How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

For the discussion of Toho DVDs, Blu-Rays, CDs, streaming services, VHS, and other formats where Toho films and soundtracks can be found.
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3000
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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by 3000 »

my local Blockbuster video was an absolute godsend when I came to Godzilla sounds. They had all of the Sony DVD releases which I rented two or three movies a week for as long as I could. I pretty much did this until I could buy copies of my own.


I have all of the Sony releases and pretty much all of the classic media releases. :)
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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by GodzillaFan1996 »

I grew up in the late 90's through the 2000's so I was one of the last generations that had vhs.
I had both godzilla on DVD and vhs, mostly on vhs since we got our godzilla movies from ebay or they were recorded from the sci-fi channel. I had every showa film on vhs, the Heisei series was a mix of vhs and DVD, and the millennium series was all dvd.

I still have all of my vhs's and dvd's even now that I have moved to Blu rays...heck I have all of the showa series and heisei series on laserdisc. Which sometimes makes me feel old since I know people who are only a couple of years younger than me (by like a year or two) and they either never heard of vhs or have heard of it but have never used one.
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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by shadowgigan »

Im so glad I saved my VHS tapes. People post about not being able to watch G'85, that must be terrible

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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by Servanov »

I'm only 13, so I didn't buy any on VHS, at least not in a store. I became a Godzilla fan when I was about 9. I bought my first Godzilla DVD at that age. I remember it was the Classic Media Box Set of most of the Showa films. I ordered it on Amazon. I ordered some more DVDs, then I ordered my first Godzilla VHS, in 2013. It was Godzilla 1985. Later, I bought Godzilla vs. Destoroyah on the Tristar Fullscreen VHS, thinking it had the international credits, which it didn't. Then, I bought my first Blu-Ray when they came out. When I first became a G-Fan, my local Family Video and Library were the only places to rent Godzilla movies. At FV, there was only Tokyo: SOS and Final Wars. At my library, they only had the double feature DVD of GvsKG and GaM:TBFE. I loved it whenever a DVD would have special features, because I ate that stuff up with a freaking spork.

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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by SomeknowmeasXeno »

Torrents, or VERY, VERY rarely catching one on TV. I've only ever seen two Toho G films on TV: KKvG and Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla. These days I buy any of the blu-rays that I can.
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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

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One of the happiest occasions of my childhood.

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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by MortalClaptrap »

MustafaDaisenso wrote:I'm guessing most of you had a similar experience to myself (i.e. you were around during the VHS era and saw G98 and G2K in theaters) or you're part of the younger crowd and had greater access to DVDs and Blu Rays. I know there are a few guys who got to see the Showa movies and G85 in theaters when they were released in the US, and probably some who have spent time outside the US and have had greater exposure to Godzilla movies in languages other than Japanese or English.

I was raised on the Anchor Bay and Simitar tapes (plus the Video Treasures GRA) around the turn of the millennium. Pan-and-scan, letterboxed widescreen, tracking, and dubbing was all that I knew, and all was good. I still need to track down some of those old releases, or at the very least torrents of them for nostalgia's sake.

Share your experiences, recollections, or fond memories here.
I grew up in the 2000s, so I grew up at the death of VHS. After VHS died off completely, I moved to DVDs but never bothered with Blu Ray.

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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by B5Erik »

How did I watch Godzilla movies when I was growing up?

On TV.

That was back in the 70's, before the home video market exploded. My first Godzilla movie was, believe it or not, Godzilla's Revenge around 1975 or so. Then I saw King Kong VS Godzilla, Godzilla VS Mechagodzilla, etc, and it was on. Local TV stations would show the Godzilla movies late on Saturday mornings (or early afternoons) at least 6 or 7 times a year. And Channel 6 in San Diego would occasionally have a Godzilla Week, showing Godzilla movies every weeknight at 8 or 9 pm (so, 5 movies). You cannot understand the excitement of seeing that a Godzilla movie was coming on when there was no home video market unless you lived through it. You never knew when the stations would schedule these things, so you only found out a few days or a week ahead of time. And you couldn't pick the movies! You got what they showed and that was it!

The first Godzilla movie I bought on VHS was Godzilla VS Megalon (I bought that in 1986 or so). It was SO cool to finally own a G movie and be able to watch it whenever I wanted! That began my obsession with owning all of the Godzilla movies (which continues to this day - now I'm only missing Godzilla 1985, the American version).

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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by Servanov »

A local channel of mine plays a Godzilla movie every now and then, but it's always the same movie, KKvG. They also play King Kong Escapes, but I really don't care too much for that movie, and I have KKvG on high quality BR rather than the full screen pan and scan version my local channel plays, so I never catch them. There's a YouTube video of the intro to Godzilla 1985 this channel did, the program is called "SvenGoolie" or something like that. I wasn't around to see them air Godzilla 1985, but that would have been cool.

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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by mschenk »

I grew up in the 80s, so mostly TV and VHS. Every time my dad went to rent a movie I'd go with him to help pick, and I'd always get Godzilla or Transformers. Then we'd get home and my brothers and sister would come running and ask "what did you rent?!" and I'd say "Godzilla" and they'd be like "again?! Arrgh!" I remember I owned KK vs G, Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla, Godzilla 1985, Godzilla Raids Again, and Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster on VHS, at least, and I taped a bunch of others off TV. I didn't know about the different series (Showa, Heisei, etc) and for YEARS thought Smog Monster came out after Godzilla 1985. Smog Monster was the very last G movie I ever rented before I grew out of them (for a time), and the first movie I rented when Blockbuster opened in our town. I didn't see any of the Heisei movies except G85 until I was older and out of college. A couple of the Showa movies like DAM I didn't see until then either.

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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by Godzilla21 »

I was a late 80s/early 90s kid so mostly VHS tapes and the occasional (rare) TV airing. I grew up calling all the Godzilla movies by their VHS titles because that's the main way I saw them. I think I single handedly wore out the Gamera vs Barugon tape at my local Blockbuster. Must have rented that movie 30 times.
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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by BooLugosi »

Internet and DVDs were how I watched them. I was born in the (horrible) year of 1998 so I had the movies more readily available to me growing up.

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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by Grunkle Sans »

My dad bought a DVD collection of the Showa series, after buying me the BC Godzilla 1968 and Mechagodzilla 1974. He used to watch the movies when he was little and wanted me to. The first one I saw was the original one (in Japanese) and it was so interesting to me. Eventually I completed all the movies on the discs in the set and then we started buying the ones available at various stores.
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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by Malchik »

I'm old so shitty used VHS tapes of varying legal authenticity. I have great memories tracking down tapes of Godzilla films on VHS in the early nineties at flea markets and bargain bins.

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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by Scarlet Spider »

VHS
Cable television
DVDs
Pirating rips
Buying the Blu-Rays

All in this order.
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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by F4ZaTE_X »

Two VHS tapes I owned
Two VHS tapes borrowed from the library

Tis all I had until the advent of Blu-ray
Now I own half the franchise
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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by JetrellFo »

Channel 32, WFLD out of Chicago on Saturdays, in the States. This is what made me a Godzilla fan. I started buying Godzilla/Gamera DVD's when they saw a release. The only Godzilla VHS I have aside from Millenium (2000) is the Miramax release of Godzilla Vs. Biollante.

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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by repticulous »

I saw my first Godzilla movie (GODZILLA VS THE THING) on TV . That's how I watched most of the earlier ones.
I saw DESTROY ALL MONSTERS, GODZILLA'S REVENGE, GODZILLA VS THE SMOG MONSTER, GODZILLA VS MEGALON, the 70's Mechagodzilla movies, and GODZILLA 1985 at the theater.
I saw all the 90's Godzilla movies on VHS, and everything after GODZILLA 2000 on DVD.

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Re: How did you watch Godzilla movies growing up?

Post by MAX Studio »

I got my start back about 1974, my mom had taken us kids to the drive in as a surprise. It was a double bill. KK vs G, and Godzilla vs The Thing. Soon after, it was waiting for late Saturday nights to watch The Goul on UHF Channel 50 from Detroit. Coming in over a rotary antenna, hoping it was a Godzilla flick he was showing. If it was, trying so hard to stay awake!

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