A Question About Different Versions of Older Godzilla Trailers...

[Legion1979]

I dont really know if anyone here could answer this question. Perhaps, Terasawa, if he sees this.

I am very familiar with the trailers for the Showa Godzilla films. I had a tape of all them in the early 90s and watched it constantly. But it seems many (if not most) of the trailers Toho uses as the "official" versions of the 60s films are from the Champion Festival. Ghidrah, MZ and DAM definitively are based on their reissue titles.

Do original release versions of these exist? And if they did, would they just be what we have now but with different titles?

[G-Matt]

I think the original versions were recently restored when they aired the 4K restorations of the movies themselves on TV in Japan. MZ at least.

[Terasawa]

I think the original versions were recently restored when they aired the 4K restorations of the movies themselves on TV in Japan. MZ at least.

And Ghidorah; I'm not sure if the original 1968 trailer for DAM was broadcast, nor Mothra vs. Godzilla for that matter (the only substantial difference here *should* be the Toho logo). Ghidorah has one shot that's different in the Champion Festival trailer, which I think is a unique case (the footage in all the others seems to be the same, but don't quote me on that). IIRC, the other changes to the re-release trailers were simply cosmetic (new titles spliced in and the Toho logo updated on the pre-65 movies). Furthermore, some of them had extra information about the festival added to the end of the trailers (this is why most Toho Video releases of King Kong vs. Godzilla have Godzilla's Revenge music over the blurb at the trailer's end), but those bits are always omitted on the official YT channel's uploads, so I can't check all of them to verify that.

The original-release trailers that were recently recovered and scanned in 4K will probably be included as bonus features if these movies ever get the same UHD treatment King Kong vs. Godzilla did.

Also, on the subject of Japanese trailers: for years, Toho Video used a portion of the Rodan trailer as a placeholder for the Godzilla Raids Again trailer. This is because the original trailer for GRA was lost; the Rodan trailer opens with about a minute of footage reminding audiences of the previous Toho daikaiju movies, which at least makes a decent substitute for GRA's missing trailer. A "newsflash"/teaser trailer for GRA was subsequently included on the 2014 Blu-ray release, but its original soundtrack and all superimposed text are apparently still lost.

[Legion1979]

Fascinating stuff, Terasawa. Thanks!

[Terasawa]

I dug up some links from last year's 4K broadcasts. Probably should have done that before typing up a big wall of text, but oh well. 1. A little info about the different shot in the 1964/1971 Ghidorah trailers. 2. Cell phone pics of original IoAM trailer. 3. It was at least announced that DAM's original trailer would be broadcast, but I guess I didn't save any links of pictures of it.

And while I'm blabbering about trailers, there are still a few Japanese Godzilla trailers that are apparently unaccounted for on video (and some of these may no longer exist at all). The original-release theatrical trailers we have for Godzilla, Mothra vs. Godzilla, Ghidorah, Astro-Monster, and apparently Godzilla vs. Megalon all have an Eirin badge ending in "T-2." That implies those are the second trailer for each of those films. Beginning in the 1980s, the Japanese studios started regularly making multiple trailers for more and more movies, but it wasn't nearly as common a practice during the '50s and '60s. The Mysterians, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Dogora, Frankenstein vs. Baragon, and several other Toho sci-fi films have their original teaser trailers on home video -- all of these are "T-1" and the more familiar trailers are "T-2."

[Great Hierophant]

Also, on the subject of Japanese trailers: for years, Toho Video used a portion of the Rodan trailer as a placeholder for the Godzilla Raids Again trailer. This is because the original trailer for GRA was lost; the Rodan trailer opens with about a minute of footage reminding audiences of the previous Toho daikaiju movies, which at least makes a decent substitute for GRA's missing trailer. A "newsflash"/teaser trailer for GRA was subsequently included on the 2014 Blu-ray release, but its original soundtrack and all superimposed text are apparently still lost.

Is this that "minute of footage" placeholder? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b179urNFlQ

Is the Rodan trailer as presented on the Toho Laserdisc the original trailer then? That trailer has the above trailer incorporated into it.

Is this is the GRA newsflash trailer? : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj2Z82c2ogM

I also assume that the trailer to 1954's Invisible Man may be lost, if this is the only representative of it : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uux3vI1RXeo

[Terasawa]

Also, on the subject of Japanese trailers: for years, Toho Video used a portion of the Rodan trailer as a placeholder for the Godzilla Raids Again trailer. This is because the original trailer for GRA was lost; the Rodan trailer opens with about a minute of footage reminding audiences of the previous Toho daikaiju movies, which at least makes a decent substitute for GRA's missing trailer. A "newsflash"/teaser trailer for GRA was subsequently included on the 2014 Blu-ray release, but its original soundtrack and all superimposed text are apparently still lost.

Is this that "minute of footage" placeholder? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b179urNFlQ

Yes, although my memory is that some Toho Video releases might end the "trailer" on the shot of Dr. Tadokoro explaining Anguirus' origin, e.g. the "Godzilla: Fierce Fighting Legend - Final Battle '96" VHS, pictured here.

Is the Rodan trailer as presented on the Toho Laserdisc the original trailer then? That trailer has the above trailer incorporated into it.

Also yes. It doesn't look like the complete original trailer is online, or at least I couldn't find it. The only unofficial uploads I could find of the Rodan trailer begin with the color footage from the movie and exclude the Godzilla and GRA footage. As on the Laserdisc you mentioned, the original trailer leads directly from this to this:



(Higher quality, albeit far from perfect. The uploader has disabled playback on other pages.)

Is this is the GRA newsflash trailer? : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4l0r11MreA

Also also yes, but as previously noted, the soundtrack is not the original heard in 1955. The sound and optical text ("telops") elements that accompanied that footage apparently have been lost.

I also assume that the trailer to 1954's Invisible Man may be lost, if this is the only representative of it : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uux3vI1RXeo

There's a similar trailer for Half Human, i.e. a video approximation which was included on the '80s video release "Tokusatsu Graffiti Vol. 1." I'm not really sure if these are re-creations or new trailers made to emulate the style of mid '50s Toho trailers, but either way, it doesn't seem that the original filmic trailers for those two films are available.