All Things Godzilla (2 Viewers)

[Jerome Grate]

FINALLY, been waiting a long time for these.

 

[Jonathan Peterson]

Yes, very cool news indeed. Now if only we could get a release of Godzilla 1985, both US and Japanese cuts.

 

[Med]

Great news! Particularly excited about Rodan as I've never seen it - either the US or Japanese version - and I've wanted to for a long time. War of the Gargantuas is a great bonus.

 

[Jim_K]

Looking forward to this

My Kaiju want-list is now down to 3 titles:

Mothra
Destroy All Monsters
King Kong vs. Godzilla

Original Uncut OSL Subbed NTSC versions

 

[Jerome Grate]

In that case you will really appreciate Rodan. I think one of the better movies done from that era, and the ending really well done.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

That's awesome news....especially since I just bought the original art for the classic Milk & Cheese strip "War of the Gargantuas"!

http://www.houseoffun.com/athome/art...gargantuas.jpg

 

[Ron68]

I already own a copy of Rodan but would gladly double dip to get the Japanese Version. Gargantuas would be worth checking out too.

 

[Tony J Case]

So aside from Frankenstein Conquers the World, All Monsters Attack and Terror of Mechagodzilla have there been any other recient Toho monster flicks (recient as in the last couple of months, since Ghidorah and Astromonster)?

With DDD has it's 20% off sale, I'd like to make sure that I've snapped up everything as of late.

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

Um, no, white subtitles with black outlines would be just fine, thank you very much. Like on most of the HK DVDs I have. If Megastar & Universe could come up with perfectly legible subtitles, ANYONE can. (A pity they couldn't come up with listenable 5.1 remixes, however.)

Yellow subtitles are a bad idea.

 

[Peter M Fitzgerald]

Though lighter on monster action than the titles you've mentioned, there's Media-Blasters' somewhat-recent release of LATITUDE ZERO (1969), as well as the earlier releases of ATRAGON (1963) and SPACE AMOEBA (1970, a.k.a. YOG, MONSTER FROM SPACE), if you don't have those already.

Also worth considering, though not Toho productions (and they've been out for quite some time):

GAPPA (1967) Media-Blasters
DAIMAJIN (1966) ADV Films
RETURN OF DAIMAJIN (1966) ADV Films
WRATH OF DAIMAJIN (1966) ADV Films
YOKAI MONSTERS: 100 MONSTERS (1968) ADV Films
YOKAI MONSTERS: SPOOK WARFARE (1968) ADV Films
YOKAI MONSTERS: ALONG WITH GHOSTS (1969) ADV Films
THE LEGEND OF DINOSAURS AND MONSTER BIRDS (1977) Media-Blasters
THE MIGHTY PEKING MAN (1977-Hong Kong, with Japanese input) Miramax
THE SUPER INFRAMAN (1976-Hong Kong, with Japanese input) Image Entertainment

 

[Joe Fisher]

Sci-Fi Japan has a look at the Rodan/War Of The Gargantuas 2 disc set due next week.

SciFi Japan » Sneak Peek: Classic Media’s RODAN and WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS DVD Set

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Those screen shots look great. Wonder why the US version of Rodan says that it's Copyright 1934?

 

[ahollis]

I can hardly wait until this release next week. I have wanted to enjoy Rodan for years and have stayed away from any of the other DVD releases. Thank you Classic Media.

 

[John Sparks]

Just watched the Japanese version of "Rodan" and it is a very dark print. During the night scenes, it's very hard to make out any detail. My television is a Mitsubishi Diamond CRT RPTV 65711 that has been professionally calibrated by two of the best in the business, so I know it's not my set, but the print.

I compared scenes from the U.S. version and the Japanese is very dark. The U.S. is bright but not as clear looking. This U.S. print is much better than you've seen on LD and the last DVD, which was released by Simitar?

It was really great hearing all the sound and sound effects in the Japanese version, unlike the U.S. that took it all away and then added everything back in.

I will wait until next week to sit down and watch the U.S. version of Rodan.

All in all, a pleasant experience.

 

[Jeffrey Nelson]

I read reviews that said it was from the exact same master as the old Vestron VHS & LD, Video Treasures VHS, Paramount LD, and first DVD release (also from Classic Media). In fact, I read that it was even worse than the earlier DVD because the authoring isn't as good, with worse macroblocking. I've got the old Vestron LD and the first DVD. I'm hangin' on to 'em! But I will pick this up because of the widescreen WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS and the reportedly excellent documentary.

 

[Tino]

Are these fullscreen only??

 

[ahollis]

Rodan was filmed 1.37:1 and is flat. The War of the Gargantuas is in widescreen letterbox.

 

[Fabian Kusch]

Not anamorphically enhanced? That would be a great letdown and unusual for Classic Media.

The vertical squeezing of the subtitles in some of the screenshots indicate that it might be coded 16:9 after all...

 

[ahollis]

The War of the Gargantuas is anamorphically enhanced. Rodan is not and would not be since it is presented in the proper aspect ratio. For some reason I had always thought that Rodan was scope film, after viewing it last night i felt cheated that I thought it was Pan-Scan. So I did some researching and in at least three web sites and two Japanese Monster movie books, I found the same information it was shot in 1.37:1.

 

[Jim Peavy]

Popped this in for a few minutes last night, long enough to see that the Japanese cut of Gargantuas looks terrible. It looks to me like they took the R2 transfer, made it a little darker (many/most R2 discs have lighter black levels than we're use to here in R1) and then compressed the hell out of it (shimmering everywhere). Also, it actually looks a little squeezed - the R2 is full Tohoscope, but I bet this CM release is a little less, so they just made the R2 transfer fit.

Not too good. The U.S. cut looked nice, however.

And both versions of Rodan (neither of which I watched last night) are on the same double sided disc along with the 70 + minute documentary "Bringing Godzilla Down to Size" (which is terrific), so not sure how they're going to look (though it can't be great). They do have two full-length Rodans on there, right?

I've stuck up for Classic Media in the past when folks have complained about their discs, but agree with the nay-sayers in this case: they dropped the ball. Would have been better to release the two films separately.

Glad I've got the R2 discs of Rodan and Gargantuas...!