GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE DVD/Blu-ray from Echo Bridge

[o.supreme]

Greetings mxg744. Even if you come here about once every ten days just to let us know exactly what you said above, you will have the praise of pretty much ALL of the fans here. Unlike Media Blasters who has fallen into contempt with less than reputable business practices, and misleading release dates.

Thanks for all your efforts and communication.

[KeizerKing81]

Just checking in to let everyone know I am still here reading your posts.

No new news, still haven't gotten a response from Miramax/Toho verifying which version of the film they are delivering. I did get my Hong Kong LD and Toho BD late last week. The BD looks good, but I have not checked the LD yet.

They're delivering the film to you next week, correct?

[mxg744]

Well. I guess I should post here more often. I just got an email minutes ago from Miramax letting me know that the HDCAMSR will be at FotoKem today and ready for us to start working with next week.
From what I can interpret, it is an exact clone of the Japanese BD source with original Japanese language stereo and re-mastered Japanese language 5.1 legs.
We are getting an English stereo track that was found separate from the HDCAMSR checked to see if it conforms to this new master, and if it does we will have everything to start working on the disc!

[Tamura]

Here's what my friend Michael had to say about the BIOLLANTE screening in Hamburg:

Just arrived back in Berlin. I went to see the 2 Godzilla films in Hamburg at the Metropolis cinema, so here are some impressions (WARNING: long text following):

After buying the tickets I booked, I went downstairs to the lounge and waited for the screening of BIOLLANTE to start. After some time the cinema's elevator opened and some Japanese looking individuals stepped out. I immediately recognized Mr. Kazuki Omori (and I wondered if anyone else did). Anyway, about half an hour later it started getting more crowded and we went down another flight of stairs to the screening room.
Before the screening Kazuki Omori was introduced and said a few words.
Then, finally, the film started.

So here's what most of you are probably interested in, the quality of the International print of BIOLLANTE. Well, the beginning and some small parts in between looked really scratched or damaged, but overall I'd say it looked pretty good for its age! However, there was one part where it seemed like a little bit was missing, right before it cuts to the scene with Colonel Gondo and Kuroki talking about Miki Saegusa.
Sound-wise, it had the same imperfections as the other prints I've seen, that is, some parts the sound got off pitch for a short period of time, e.g. the scene where the Super X is on the runway and there was a scene with a short drop out (I don't remember the exact scene).

Overall, it was really impressive to see this on the big screen. It also made me realize again how much I love the English dub of this film. Besides the awesome combination of the character Colonel Gondo and the voice of Rik Thomas, I enjoyed most of the voice acting in this. I think most of the voices also fit the characters, with the exception of some minor characters. And of course, the large cast was just voiced by about 6 or more people, so characters like "Johnny Foxtrott" were voiced by Rik Thomas as well. Which I, due to Rik Thomas' awesomeness, didn't mind.

[Brian R Culver]

In BIOLLANTE, burnt-in Japanese subtitles appear 57 times, not counting place names and the like.

This reminds me of something that may go without saying, but it’s probably better to say something now than be sorry later…

mxg744, please try to convince the powers that be to include an extra “slates” subtitle track to be played with the English dubbed version. There’s a lot of onscreen text critical to the story that will be in Japanese because of the BD source you’re using. The most prominent example is the “Godzilla Alert” notices which serve as a framing device, first being listed before the credits then repeated later one by one as each alert stage is reached. Another one off the top of my head is a subtitle establishing the 5 year gap between Dr. Shiragami’s tragedy in Saradia and his having returned to Japan in the scene that immediately follows. There are probably some “place names” and other things I forgot about too.

You or somebody should probably review your reference materials for this. I’m not sure which subtitles you’re using or how well any of your reference subs cover those, but it might be a good place to start checking. They’re also pretty well flagged on the HBO Video/International print as English subtitles, though I don’t know how accurate the translations are.

[goji1986]

Here's what my friend Michael had to say about the BIOLLANTE screening in Hamburg:

Just arrived back in Berlin. I went to see the 2 Godzilla films in Hamburg at the Metropolis cinema, so here are some impressions (WARNING: long text following):

After buying the tickets I booked, I went downstairs to the lounge and waited for the screening of BIOLLANTE to start. After some time the cinema's elevator opened and some Japanese looking individuals stepped out. I immediately recognized Mr. Kazuki Omori (and I wondered if anyone else did). Anyway, about half an hour later it started getting more crowded and we went down another flight of stairs to the screening room.
Before the screening Kazuki Omori was introduced and said a few words.
Then, finally, the film started.

So here's what most of you are probably interested in, the quality of the International print of BIOLLANTE. Well, the beginning and some small parts in between looked really scratched or damaged, but overall I'd say it looked pretty good for its age! However, there was one part where it seemed like a little bit was missing, right before it cuts to the scene with Colonel Gondo and Kuroki talking about Miki Saegusa.
Sound-wise, it had the same imperfections as the other prints I've seen, that is, some parts the sound got off pitch for a short period of time, e.g. the scene where the Super X is on the runway and there was a scene with a short drop out (I don't remember the exact scene).

Overall, it was really impressive to see this on the big screen. It also made me realize again how much I love the English dub of this film. Besides the awesome combination of the character Colonel Gondo and the voice of Rik Thomas, I enjoyed most of the voice acting in this. I think most of the voices also fit the characters, with the exception of some minor characters. And of course, the large cast was just voiced by about 6 or more people, so characters like "Johnny Foxtrott" were voiced by Rik Thomas as well. Which I, due to Rik Thomas' awesomeness, didn't mind.

At least one of those audio problems is present on the old VHS. When the Super X is prepped for launch on the runway, the music warbles for a second or two. At first I thought it was a problem with my copy, until I got a second one and it too was on that one. For years I thought it was part of the film until I got the Japanese R2 DVD.

[Goji]

^ Yeah, It's probably exclusive to the international version. I used to have a bizarre screener copy of BIOLLANTE (Dubbed in English, with a few alternate lines, and with on screen Japanese text) that had the same thing.

[KeizerKing81]

Well. I guess I should post here more often. I just got an email minutes ago from Miramax letting me know that the HDCAMSR will be at FotoKem today and ready for us to start working with next week.
From what I can interpret, it is an exact clone of the Japanese BD source with original Japanese language stereo and re-mastered Japanese language 5.1 legs.
We are getting an English stereo track that was found separate from the HDCAMSR checked to see if it conforms to this new master, and if it does we will have everything to start working on the disc!

Excellent news and anxiously anticipating more. Keep up the good work, mxg744.

[MandaSaurus]

I'm up for a new release of "G vs Biollante" on DVD. I don't have that film in my video library - yet.

[Goji]

*edit* Looks like DVD a release is happening.

[Rody]

They're only doing Blu-Ray?

Hmm; I had missed that part.

[mxg744]

For clarification, we will do both a DVD and BD for this film... sorry if I didn't explain that earlier. I am not sure what the exact differences will be at this point, but we usually put more 'effort' and quality into our BD releases right now. I won't let the company completely destroy the DVD, but our marketing and product development team may only approve a basic DVD release with few to no bonus features and then pack all the bonus content on the BD.

[Tohosaurus]

I'll double dip and buy both a DVD and BRD release.

[Giga Kaiju]

Nice to hear about BIOLLANTE being released.

[KeizerKing81]

For clarification, we will do both a DVD and BD for this film... sorry if I didn't explain that earlier. I am not sure what the exact differences will be at this point, but we usually put more 'effort' and quality into our BD releases right now. I won't let the company completely destroy the DVD, but our marketing and product development team may only approve a basic DVD release with few to no bonus features and then pack all the bonus content on the BD.

Nice to hear about a release for the film on both formats. So I'm guessing Toho has approved the extra content for the disc or is that still in the negotiation process?

[mxg744]

Why?

Do it to pay my salary :p

Nice to hear about a release for the film on both formats. So I'm guessing Toho has approved the extra content for the disc or is that still in the negotiation process?

No, no news on the bonus feature officially being approved for NA territories

what extra features are you thinking on the BRD?

I am trying to get everything to match the Japanese release, we watched them on the BD we have and they looked pretty interesting even without understanding a word of what was being said.

But also on this point... What do you guys think of the magazine Japanese Giants? A representative from there contacted us about the upcoming release and offered to assist in making bonus features, probably for a fee, so we would have to fight the marketing & product development team to approve of that expense, but is it worth exploring or do they have no credibility?

[Goji]

But also on this point... What do you guys think of the magazine Japanese Giants? A representative from there contacted us about the upcoming release and offered to assist in making bonus features, probably for a fee, so we would have to fight the marketing & product development team to approve of that expense, but is it worth exploring or do they have no credibility?

Japanese Giants is edited and run by Ed Godziszewski, who is a very respectable person in the the fandom. Other than publishing Japanese Giants for several decades, as well as the The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Godzilla, he's done audio commentaries for Classic Media's releases of MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA, Sony's releases of MOTHRA and BATTE IN OUTER SPACE, and more recently, an audio commentary for Media Blaster's release of DESTROY ALL MONSTERS.

He also produced a documentary entitled BRINGING GODZILLA DOWN TO SIZE, about the legacy of Japanese SPX techniques, which was released in 2009 on Classic Media's RODAN/WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS double feature DVD set.

[Tamura]

This is one of the few times I would rather not hear a historian commentary on a Godzilla film. I mean, it's only like 20 years old...

[Tamura]

^ That's overkill dood.

[Tohosaurus]

Why?

If the BRD covers all the same that's on the DVD, just by the BRD and rip it to your hard drive and you can compress is with DVDFab and double scan it and it'll be the exact same thing the DVD is except on a DVD-R and you can make as many as you want if the DVD-R 'laser rots'. (not to distribute or sell, but in case youre in a car with a DVD player or whatever..)

Several reasons, but the top two

- I want to complete my Godzilla DVD collection and continue with my Godzilla BRD collection

- I want to support the companies that give us this stuff as opposed to people to just rip off this company by illegally downloading, etc. That's why even if I have free legal access to a movie (say, Netflix Instant Stream, etc) and I really like the movie I'll still buy it anyway. This is especially true of foreign movies getting a NA release. It's my way of saying "thank you" to them for bringing it to us.