Criterion streaming Godzilla films + Criterion Showa Box Set

[Legion1979]

We're talking about a company that sat on a Godzilla vs Biollante audio commentary long enough to (conveniently) not be able to approve it in time for Echo Bridge's bluray release.

[Mac Daddy MM]

I really genuinely do not care about the art of this release because the book currently sits in a drawer under my TV and the discs are on my shelf in a standard 8-disc case with custom artwork by Matt Frank. The only positive that another company would've had in this area is providing original poster art reversibles, if they put it out in a standard case. Like...really, the art on the box is the last thing on my mind when watching movies. The spine is the only visible part for 90% of its lifetime. It's not a big deal to me and it certainly isn't bad enough to negate all the actual issues with this set.

100% opposite for me. I've double dipped on BRs and Steelbooks simply because I've liked the cover art and design of the packaging better than prior releases.

Except Toho's difficulty to work with on home media releases has been prevalent for years now. The Kraken Releasing G84 disc, the Tokyo Shock Destroy All Monsters special edition fiasco, the Echo Bridge Godzilla vs. Biollante commentary ordeal. We even have word direct from Arrow's James Flower that they're hesitant to work with Toho because of how strict they can be (somewhere in this interview, I'm not watching a 40 minute video just to provide examples for a forum post).

Yeah, I remember the DAM and, to an extent, the GvM drama when it all unfolded eons ago. The music copyright of G85 has been a long lasting thing since the advent of DVD, so I don't really know if that can be blamed on Toho entirely. Seems like a similar situation as to the music of Ultraman Tiga and how it was replaced for the recent MillCreek release.

Can we at least agree to having a different company release the Heisei/Millennium and non-Godzilla kaiju films for the sake of GOOD artwork and packaging? Lol.

[Legion1979]

I always thought Media Blasters' Toho discs always had terrific packaging, considering they usually just used Toho poster art.

[Mac Daddy MM]

I always thought Media Blasters' Toho discs always had terrific packaging, considering they usually just used Toho poster art.

If not poster art, I would LOVE to see what Shout! would do with their releases. Some of their artwork is to die for. I'd love to have some actual posters hung up in my hallway of their movies.

[miguelnuva]

That's why I still have the classic media Godzilla films. The showa films look fine on my ps5.

[canofhumdingers]

That's why I still have the classic media Godzilla films. The showa films look fine on my ps5.

Oof. The classic media discs look ROUGH. Not only are the transfers really outdated and poor quality, but the encodes are terrible with all kinds of interlacing issues (early copies of GRA being particularly terrible).

That being said, I still hang onto them for a few of the dubs. And they really did set the bar for home video releases by including both Japanese and US cuts as well as some really great bonus features (despite the poor video quality of the films, the discs are still worth owning today just for the bonus features).

[Legion1979]

Only thing is, a lot of the CM discs don't include "US cuts", just the Japanese visuals edited and combined with the dub to create a Frankenstein version of what the original US versions were like. So in many cases the CM discs didn't preserve much of anything.

Regardless, I'm hanging on to them for the versions/dubs they DO preserve, as well as the audio commentaries.

[Mac Daddy MM]

That's why I still have the classic media Godzilla films. The showa films look fine on my ps5.

Oof. The classic media discs look ROUGH. Not only are the transfers really outdated and poor quality, but the encodes are terrible with all kinds of interlacing issues (early copies of GRA being particularly terrible).

That being said, I still hang onto them for a few of the dubs. And they really did set the bar for home video releases by including both Japanese and US cuts as well as some really great bonus features (despite the poor video quality of the films, the discs are still worth owning today just for the bonus features).

Yeeep. Hell, I haven't even watched Criterion's GRA because I really don't care enough for the movie to watch it with subs. Hell, the Criterion set doesn't even have the English version of Mothra vs. Godzilla, so you lose out on the Frontier Missile scene.

[Legion1979]

Shame Criterion's version of Mothra vs Godzilla isn't in the correct aspect ratio, while the old Simitar version is missing footage. Bleh.

[canofhumdingers]

Shame Criterion's version of Mothra vs Godzilla isn't in the correct aspect ratio

It’s not? I could’ve sworn it was in scope as it should be.

Did you mean the classic media DVD’s version of Godzilla vs The Thing? Because that is cropped from scope to 16x9 (something to do with that version originally being created for that MonstersHD channel that wouldn’t show stuff in proper scope ratio because “durrrrr black bars…. It’s not filling the screen…” idiocy)

[Legion1979]

Yes, I should have specified that I meant Godzilla vs the Thing. Sorry.

[John Pannozzi]

What footage was the Simitar DVD of Mothra vs. Godzilla/Godzilla vs. The Thing missing?

[Chrispy_G]

That's why I still have the classic media Godzilla films. The showa films look fine on my ps5.

Oof. The classic media discs look ROUGH. Not only are the transfers really outdated and poor quality, but the encodes are terrible with all kinds of interlacing issues (early copies of GRA being particularly terrible).

That being said, I still hang onto them for a few of the dubs. And they really did set the bar for home video releases by including both Japanese and US cuts as well as some really great bonus features (despite the poor video quality of the films, the discs are still worth owning today just for the bonus features).

Yeeep. Hell, I haven't even watched Criterion's GRA because I really don't care enough for the movie to watch it with subs. Hell, the Criterion set doesn't even have the English version of Mothra vs. Godzilla, so you lose out on the Frontier Missile scene.

The original version of GRA is the only version worth watching for me. "Gigantis, the Fire Monster" is for me, the lowest example of an American version of a Godzilla film due to the simple fact that it tries to erase and fight against the fact that it even IS a Godzilla movie. That's unforgivable. That would be like watching a Japanese version of a Friday the 13th movie where they alter Jason's name into something else, while the rest of the franchise retains the proper name.

As much as I LOVE the Frontier Missile Scene and that inclusion pumps up the energy level and pacing of the film....I can't stand that they call Mothra "The Thing" the almost the entire time.

Just as much as I prefer the streamlining of the GTTM edit, I can't stand replacing so much of Ifukube's music. Certain things about some of those early US cuts are just "poison pills" for me.

[Mac Daddy MM]

Oof. The classic media discs look ROUGH. Not only are the transfers really outdated and poor quality, but the encodes are terrible with all kinds of interlacing issues (early copies of GRA being particularly terrible).

That being said, I still hang onto them for a few of the dubs. And they really did set the bar for home video releases by including both Japanese and US cuts as well as some really great bonus features (despite the poor video quality of the films, the discs are still worth owning today just for the bonus features).

Yeeep. Hell, I haven't even watched Criterion's GRA because I really don't care enough for the movie to watch it with subs. Hell, the Criterion set doesn't even have the English version of Mothra vs. Godzilla, so you lose out on the Frontier Missile scene.

The original version of GRA is the only version worth watching for me. "Gigantis, the Fire Monster" is for me, the lowest example of an American version of a Godzilla film due to the simple fact that it tries to erase and fight against the fact that it even IS a Godzilla movie. That's unforgivable. That would be like watching a Japanese version of a Friday the 13th movie where they alter Jason's name into something else, while the rest of the franchise retains the proper name.

As much as I LOVE the Frontier Missile Scene and that inclusion pumps up the energy level and pacing of the film....I can't stand that they call Mothra "The Thing" the almost the entire time.

Just as much as I prefer the streamlining of the GTTM edit, I can't stand replacing so much of Ifukube's music. Certain things about some of those early US cuts are just "poison pills" for me.

100% understand every bit here. But as someone that grew up with Gigantis over GRA, I'll always prefer the Banana Oil movie over the original. Now I havee watch the actual subs a handful of time and I just find the movie as bleh as ever. Plus, you get to hear Yogi Bear do a kamikaze dive on Godzilla. So yeah.

[Chrispy_G]

100% understand every bit here. But as someone that grew up with Gigantis over GRA, I'll always prefer the Banana Oil movie over the original. Now I havee watch the actual subs a handful of time and I just find the movie as bleh as ever. Plus, you get to hear Yogi Bear do a kamikaze dive on Godzilla. So yeah.

I can respect that!

It isn't the most stand-out or exciting Godzilla film, but I dig that it is one of the few entries that is a bit more grounded. It isn't as serous and sombre throughout as G54...but the sort of open embrace of a more outlandish tone of the 60s hasn't kicked in yet...so it occupies a sort of rare tonal space for the franchise that not too many of the films occupy.

[Great Hierophant]

I put together the differences I could find in the available versions of the Frontier Missile sequence here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-47xa6G-qo

[canofhumdingers]

I put together the differences I could find in the available versions of the Frontier Missile sequence here : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-47xa6G-qo

That’s interesting. I never realized the optical effects were missing on so many versions. Heck, I’m not sure I realized there WERE optical effects before now. Thanks for posting!

[Anguirus]

I really hope we eventually see a Heisei Collection. I like having all the films in a set.
I also hope we get Rodan on Blu Ray, as that is the only non Godzilla Toho film I need on Blu Ray, as I have Mothra and the ROM trilogy already.
Anyway, after reading the posts here about the discs sliding into glue, I am going to need to buy a disc case for the Criterion Collection.

[Chrispy_G]

I really hope we eventually see a Heisei Collection. I like having all the films in a set.

Indeed, having the entire film series condensed down into as few releases/sets/collections as possible is a cool thing regardless of all other details. I'll continue to burn a candle for the hope of Criterion or another label doing what must be done to wrangle as many of the films under the same umbrella, and I'll continue to hope that perhaps Toho will have a more welcoming perspective and looser grip when it comes to these releases in the future.

A Showa set, a Heisei set, a Millennium set...and I would be all for some kind of nicely packaged Monsterverse set, just a one or two-case bundle of the films and all of the bonus material.

I have to say, I've come full circle back on this Criterion set. At first I defended it a lot, then it was easy to moan and groan about the various departments where it was perceived to be lacking....but now I've flipped back the other way.

It is a hell of a set and I love it. I love it got the big benchmark of Spine #1000. The sheer novelty of the Showa Era all being together on Blu Ray from a single label is a fun novelty in and of itself, to have them all presented with uniformity when typically this era has always had a very fragmented existence on disc.

The over-sized nature of it leaves a big impression, the biggest in my personal film collection. I friggin love the pop art cover. I absolutely dig the variation in the art-styles and the oversized pages make it easier to appreciate them all, they work as overall conceptual tributes to Godzilla as a whole as well as to the individual films. I think it also shows that just as Godzilla films can exist in many different styles and tones, that Godzilla's versatility extends to how he is presented in drawn art.

I care a heck of a lot less about the "We need more audio commentaries" demand than I did before. Between books, wikis, videos on YouTube....there is NO shortage of trivia and information collected on every single Godzilla film. These aren't a bunch of unsung, unknown, obscure movies that have never been treated to any kind of discussion or analysis. That stuff is all out there. The essays included in this set are quite succinct and efficient at providing extra information. I think that the essay for the original film's solo Criterion release should definitely have been reprinted here, but that's okay.

Yes, it lacks US versions and a number of US dubs, which "should" have been included. I can live without the generally inferior US edits, but I do agree that all of the films deserve an English Dub for their original cuts. That option would be nice.

The set is not the ultimate, definitive, all-encompassing collection that it could have been, but it is still a heck of a set with a lot to appreciate and it honors the legacy of the films included quite nicely.

...and as always, I'll keep my fingers crossed for the potential of the future.

[o.supreme]

A Heisei/Millennium set might be nice for fans that dont already own the films. But they all exist already on Blu Ray in North America. There are no alternate dubs. The only way the set could be of any value would be the inclusion of Godzilla 1985, along with RoG (Toho english dub, and the original audio of course), but Toho is never going to allow it.