Criterion Press Release: Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[dpippel]

How much did you pay Doug?

$122.16 including tax. Still a screaming deal.

 

[Tino]

Be aware that the stock in B&N stores will likely be damaged, due to their use of the dreaded "Spider-wire" anti-theft contraptions.

My local B&N had them behind the counter. About 5 copies that I saw. No anti theft anything. Grabbed one and paid downstairs. Perfect condition.

 

[Traveling Matt]

If you want one and live in NY I have an extra.

Thanks Noel, but I'm nowhere near NY. And also just don't need one. But thanks.

 

[Traveling Matt]

The staff member I spoke to there said three other customers had refused to accept their pre-orders due to the condition, and was expecting more complaints. For some stupid reason, they had attached the Spider-wire to all copies they received — even the ones that were pre-ordered and kept behind the counter!

What a silly situation. It's expensive so they want to use anti-theft, but it's expensive so customers won't accept damage for that price.

I stopped by my local store and a woman was walking out with a copy - at first glace it looked like one of her other books - so I figured between that and the news here today it's probably doing pretty well.

 

[David Norman]

I have had this conversation with a couple B&N managers -- partially over Criterion Boxsets and even worse $200-300 LP boxsets that I saw but wasn't actually shopping for at all. The wraps are very much store dependent -- 3 of my closest 4 Media store don't use them (2 never have). I saw a dozen units today at the 2 stores I went to today and no damage on any of them

Essential conversation boils down to a variation (I did seem to get the message across at one store since I saw most of the items in a different spot and no wraps the next time, but I think more than one person had the talk):
"Why are you mangling your collectors sets with those security wraps"
Theft Prevention. It's jus the case, it still plays fine
"The things are 12x 15 and weigh 20 lbs, How are you going to shoplift them"
But just in case
"OK, who are the customers in the market for a $300 LP set"
High end Collectors
"Exactly. And Collectors who are going to shell out $300 are going to accept this? How many people have already refused to accept this at pickup or angrily returned them already" (holding a mangled set in front of him)
Blank Look ........ 'A few. huh you think that's the reason?'
"How many have you actually sold and not been returned"
None
"Precisely. So you are going to quit using the wraps"
No, it's to prevent theft.
"So now you have something that can't be stolen and won't be purchased taking up space? Is the Problem solved and a worse one created"
Blank look again. 'But what can I do'
"Stop using the wraps"
But then someone could steal them
"put them behind the CSR desk or in a Case designed to hold such things without destroying them"
That's not practical. We'll lose money buying the extra cases
"Vs making no money by not selling them in the first place?"
Blank look. But....

 

[JohnRice]

I purchased two copies of this release - one from Amazon and one directly from Criterion. Both arrived in perfect condition. The manufacturer is shipping these in a specially designed box.

Good to know, since the Evil A has it for 50% off now, and I just ordered one.

FWIW, my Bergman set did come in a custom fit shipping box, and it arrived in perfect shape as well. It sounds like this way odds are better than B&N.

Plus, I live just outside Denver and I notice lately a lot of stuff seems to be in a warehouse in Aurora (suburb of Denver) so the handling from there to here (maybe 70 miles) is pretty minimal. I ordered at 9PM Friday and it says it'll be here Sunday.

 

[JohnRice]

...just received it. Soundly double boxed, in pristine condition.

I have to admit, I do need to figure out how I'm going to store it.

 

[Jack P]

I went through a little bit of a letdown once I fully realized that overall, getting this means you don't discard too many older DVD releases. Only the earlier Criterion stand-alone of "Godzilla", plus the Universal Blu-Ray of "King Kong vs. Godzilla" and the old DVD releases of "Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster" (aka Ebirah), "Son Of Godzilla" ,"Godzilla vs. Hedorah" and "Godzilla vs. Mechogodzilla." Those four have the same English dubs on Criterion and also don't have commentaries. OTOH, every other title either has a commentary track or a different English dub/cut of the film that merits keeping in its own right. But having said that, I don't regret getting this new set since it does enhance the totality of what's out there now.

 

[haineshisway]

Here's the thing: Shame on Toho for this. I don't care if anyone is saying (without much proof) that Gojira is a newer transfer than the original Criterion Blu-ray - it looks the same. And it's okay. Godzilla Raids Again looks horrible. King Kong vs. Godzilla - I have the Universal Blu somewhere and remembering it looking like this pretty much, which is to say pretty good. The others I've checked out range from okay to mediocre. It's not Criterion's fault, obviously, but they could have said no once Toho said to them that they wouldn't allow fresh transfers and gave them this older stuff. What is wrong with Toho, seriously? Are they just morons, or do they have some master plan that none of us know about? The packaging is really fun, but for that kind of dough you want new transfers that look great. I'm on disc four - we'll see how the other four discs are.

 

[Lord Dalek]

I haven't seen any caps from the 4k transfers that Toho forbid Criterion to use but as far as I can tell, the only one that would be a notable improvement is KKvG (apparently they found 35mm material to replace the 16mm scenes in every restoration since the 90s?). The rest are all brickwalled by poor preservation, 60s optical tech, and Toho's signiture bad stock and color lab work. Silk purse meets sow's ear.

But hey at least King Kong has its original stereo track intact.

 

[dpippel]

For anyone who may have missed the previous Criterion sales, Amazon has the Godzilla Showa-era set for $112.49 today:

https://smile.amazon.com/GODZILLA-S...1_5?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1574950611&sr=1-5

 

[Ronald Epstein]

For anyone who may have missed the previous Criterion sales, Amazon has the Godzilla Showa-era set for $112.49 today:

https://smile.amazon.com/GODZILLA-S...1_5?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1574950611&sr=1-5

Thanks Doug. That has been the price on Amazon for a few weeks now.

I'm still waiting for a further drop. I am not touching this till it dips below $100, possibly $80 but that will take time.