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|
Article:
7
Date: 5/18/08
Year: 1974
 |
Prophecies
of Nostradamus (1974) |
Company:
Paramount/Gateway (1994)
Country: United States
Category: Slip Cover
-DISTRIBUTOR SCREENER VERSION-
|
| Here's
a rare film in its only American home video release
thus far. Part of UPA's Toho film catalog, Last
Days of Planet Earth is the butchered television
version of Toho's Prophecies
of Nostradamus (1974). The front features
a lavish drawing of a mushroom cloud engulfing a city,
tearing up trains, buildings, and throwing people
into the air while dozens more run screaming. None
of these people seem to appear in the film, but it's
such an amazing drawing anyway.
On the spines, one sees the title with a small
version of the cover as a border. The back cover
follows the "Japanese flag" motif Paramount
and Gateway used in their many Toho releases of
the early '90s. The synopsis is, as usual, very
cheesy, detailing some of Nostradamus's predictions
and also noticeably not mentioning the film is Japanese.
It should be noted that this particular copy of
the cassette is a distributor screener copy released
to retail chains as a tape to preview on tv screens
throughout the store. It doesn't affect the film
at all except for copyright notices appearing once
in a while on the bottom of the screen. |
|
 |
Prophecies
of Nostradamus (1974) |
Company:
Paramount/Gateway (1994)
Country: United States
Category: Slip Cover |
| Other
than a few minor differences, this official VHS release
boasts almost no visual differences from the above
screener copy. The text bubbles are vacant from the
front, however, thereby showing off the frightening
artwork at its scary-best. |
|
 |
Godzilla
vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) |
Company:
New World Video (1988)
Country: United States
Category: Slip Cover
|
| One
of the three Godzilla films acquired by New World
for VHS release in the mid-to-late 80's, this marks
the very first time U.S. Godzilla fans could bring
home the famous 1970 classic. The description on the
rear is informative and respectful of the film's nature,
which is something very rare among the VHS releases
of Godzilla movies. Nevertheless, there are a few
errors... mainly in the way of the common underestimation
of Mechagodzilla's mass and the inaccurate spelling
of "King Caesar". |
|
 |
Godzilla
vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) |
Company:
StarMaker Entertainment Inc. (1992)
Country: United States
Category: Slip Cover
|
| This
StarMaker cover has to have been one of the best ever
made! The human cast runs away from a cave that is
erupting into flames behind them, as two titanic monsters
battle each other in the background (with a sea of
fire in the distance). The illustrations of the kaiju
are almost exact to the film. Although the Godzilla
suit used is technically incorrect (the cover features
the 1972 suit), the artwork is still very nice. Heading
to the back of the cover, this release sports two
of the promotional photos for the movie. As far as
synopses go, this one is pretty accurate. |
|
 |
Godzilla
vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) |
Company:
GoodTimes Home Video Corp. (1993)
Country: United States
Category: Slip Cover
|
In
this release of the original Godzilla
vs. Mechagodzilla (1974), under the title
Godzilla vs. Cosmic Monster, GoodTimes employed
the artist "Zina," who also did work on
the GoodTimes release of Ebirah,
Horror of the Deep (1966). Zina seems to
have a few distinctive themes in his or her art, including
favoring the Heisei Godzilla design, and giving Godzilla
golden claws, toenails, and back plates. In this case,
Zina adds two nostrils to the top of Godzilla's nose,
which weren't present in the Heisei suit and look
a bit silly, and imbues him with a flame-thrower breath
rather than the blue nuclear beam used in the actual
film. However, Zina's interpretation of Mechagodzilla
is drastically different, apparently not based on
any Toho design, but rather some personal, rather
simplified, toy-like vision of the mechanical monster.
The scene depicted, which wraps around onto the sides
of the box, appears to be a modified recreation of
the climax.
On the back of the box, along with the three postage-stamp-sized
photos from the film, a fairly comprehensive plot
outline is included, which is quite accurate—and
completely blows the ending for anyone unfamiliar
with the film. The only problem other than spoilers
is that, for some reason, King Caesar's name is rendered
as one word—"Kingseesar." |
|
 |
Godzilla
vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) |
Company:
UAV Corporation (1994)
Country: United States
Category: Slip Cover
|
| Even
before Cinema Shares first released Godzilla's 20th
anniversary adventure stateside, legal problems loomed
on the horizon. The title "Godzilla vs. Bionic
Monster" couldn't be used (according to Universal,
at least), so Cinema Shares simply retitled it "Godzilla
vs. Cosmic Monster" instead. Of course, they
cut some fight scenes, a little gore, and language
to make it better off for the children. This version
aired on television until the late '80s when New World
Video released Toho's better international version
to home video. The UAV Corporation however got a copy
of the Cosmic Monster print and released it on video
in 1994 (and probably many other times).
The front cover depicts a very cartoony Godzilla
facing off against the titular cosmic monster, who
is only shown from behind. The color scheme is bland
and the title is rendered rather poorly, but it
still has its charm. The spines feature the title
twice per side with a small picture of the front
cover, as was typical for home video cassettes.
The back cover has another small version of the
front cover at the bottom and title again at the
top. There is a quote from Leonard Maltin, some
generic slogans (eg. "Godzilla battles his
cyborg double to the death!"), and the synopsis,
which is mostly accurate, except for the probable
typo "Kingseesar."
Also, UAV released Godzilla
vs. Megalon (1974) (featuring very similar
artwork and layout) at the same time... but they
could have at least used a screen capture from the
film inside the box! Here, Godzilla is seen shaking
hands with Jet Jaguar! Casual fans might think that
THIS is the "cosmic monster",
leading certainly to some confusion. |
|
 |
Godzilla
vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) |
Company:
Anchor Bay Entertainment, Inc. (1997)
Country: United States
Category: Slip Cover
|
| Once
again sporting their 1984 Godzilla motif (with the
misleading green hue), the front cover features Mechagodzilla
shooting strange beams from his eye and his fingers
(the latter of which could be a rocket trail) amidst
a wavey fire pattern. On the side, the typical American
poster from The
Return of Godzilla (1984) is present. On
the back, there is a scene of the burning oil refinery
that features a powerful onslaught by Mechagodzilla
firing poorly-rendered energy weapons. The summary
is rather accurate, apart from the following: "can
King Seeser and Godzilla overcome 50 tons of mechanized
and menacing space titanium?" As is common with
releases by StarMaker and Anchor Bay, this figure
greatly underestimates the logical mass of something
that size. Also, the now defunct spelling "King
Seeser" is used throughout the blurb. |
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