Should they have a Documentary?

For the discussion of Toho produced and distributed films or shows released before 1980.
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kpa
G-Grasper
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Joined: Fri Jul 30, 2010 9:07 am

Re: Should they have a Documentary?

Post by kpa »

Stevo_1985 wrote:Bringing godzilla down to size is a real good one. Doesn't really explain about continuity but really cool stuff on production and crew members, just about everything.
The BBC documentary was made to tie-in with the theatrical release of TriStar's GODZILLA. I really liked it, particularly the interviews with Ishiro Honda's window and cast and crew members from the Godzilla series. Highly recommended.

The Animal Planet's GODZILLA: IT CAME FROM JAPAN special was completely unauthorized and just uses "public domain" footage from things like movie trailers and the electronic presskit for G98. Unlike the BBC doc there are no original interviews with the Japanese filmmakers and it doesn't offer any new information. They do a good job with what they had to work with, but it's basically just a general overview of the series for casual fans or newcomers to Godzilla.

Classic Media's BRINGING GODZILLA DOWN TO SIZE focuses on a specific aspect of the franchise -- the classic FX techniques used by Toho and other studios -- rather than trying to do a general overview or history of the franchise. I think that was the right approach since you can't do the entire series justice in 60-70 minutes. The doc had the support of Toho and Tsuburaya Pro and includes a lot of interviews with Japanese filmmakers discussing their craft, plus fun stuff like the three generations of Godzilla suit actors all coming together for the first time and the Toho FX crew recreating one of the effects from the Showa days. I would count this as easily the best English language documentary about the Godzilla/Japanese FX films done to date.

Legion1979
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Joined: Fri Jul 23, 2010 7:45 pm

Re: Should they have a Documentary?

Post by Legion1979 »

Stevo_1985 wrote:Bringing godzilla down to size is a real good one. Doesn't really explain about continuity...
Good, because a Godzilla documentary shouldn't be concerned with something like that.

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