Criterion streaming Godzilla films + Criterion Showa Box Set

[Terasawa]

The only thing that could make me look forward to a new Toho NA release is the possibility of authentic subtitles, but knowing how Gorath's official German subtitles are derived from the bootleg "translation", I feel like even certain NA release subtitles are worthy of suspicion - not the Criterion releases, but maybe the Columbia films... we know a bunch of those are dubtitled, anyway.

The TriStar stuff? Yeah, I think a lot of that is very loosely translated (at best). The 2014 BDs re-translated some of the dialogue (in some of the films) but most of the subtitles are still derived from the dubbed versions.

[omgitsgodzilla]

GMK is still 99% dubtitled, but hey, at least we got one bit corrected from dubtitles to fansub profanity!

[canofhumdingers]

GMK is still 99% dubtitled, but hey, at least we got one bit corrected from dubtitles to fansub profanity!

Well now I need the deets...

[Tamura]

GMK is still 99% dubtitled, but hey, at least we got one bit corrected from dubtitles to fansub profanity!

Priorities!

[UltramanGoji]

GMK is still 99% dubtitled, but hey, at least we got one bit corrected from dubtitles to fansub profanity!

Well now I need the deets...

When the one guy accidentally shoots King Ghidorah, instead of saying “Yes!” he now says “Fuck!”.

[Terasawa]

The Sony BD translation is more accurate in that one instance, although I think "Shit!" would have been more appropriate. The translation on the Universe Laser releases, apparently the same translation from Toho's 35mm subtitled prints, is "Damn it!"

Japanese version:くそっ！(Often translated as "Shit" but it looks like it can be used as "Fuck", too.)


Sony DVD: Excellent! (In the dubbed version he shouts "Got him!" so this is a dubtitle only in spirit.)


Sony BD: Fuck!


However, Sony didn't get the memo that Tachibana is supposed to be upset too.

Japanese version: Ah! (Untranslated in the Universe Laser script because it's really an interjection.)
English version: Good!
Sony DVD subs: Great!
Sony BD subs: Good. (So he's no longer excited about hitting the wrong monster, just contented by it.)

[Spuro]

Criterion, give us a Hesei/Millennium series box set so we can rid ourselves of Sony's dubtitles once and for all.

You have no idea how long I've wanted to experience GMK with a proper translation.

[UltramanGoji]

Criterion, give us a Hesei/Millennium series box set so we can rid ourselves of Sony's dubtitles once and for all.

You have no idea how long I've wanted to experience GMK with a proper translation.

Criterion isn't going to be making anymore Godzilla box sets. They only did the Showa set because that series is responsible for Godzilla becoming the worldwide phenomenon it is today as well as highlighting a creative period in Japanese science fiction filmmaking. The Heisei/Millennium films are not noteworthy or important enough to join the collection. A company like Arrow or Shout Factory would be more likely to do that and even then the chances are nil.

[Terasawa]

You have no idea how long I've wanted to experience GMK with a proper translation.

Here are the "Universe Laser subs", allegedly the translation provided by Norman England and used on Toho's 35mm prints. http://www.mediafire.com/file/ffiu12glg ... h.ssa/file

There are some OCR errors I didn't bother to clean up. You can open them in Jubler or any free subtitle software to run a spell check and play with the formatting. You'll also have to play with the timing to account for the TriStar logo on the U.S. releases.

[Space Hunter M]

Hate how the TriStar DVD is still the sharpest out of those three screenshots lmao

[omgitsgodzilla]

You have no idea how long I've wanted to experience GMK with a proper translation.

Here are the "Universe Laser subs", allegedly the translation provided by Norman England and used on Toho's 35mm prints. http://www.mediafire.com/file/ffiu12glg ... h.ssa/file

There are some OCR errors I didn't bother to clean up. You can open them in Jubler or any free subtitle software to run a spell check and play with the formatting. You'll also have to play with the timing to account for the TriStar logo on the U.S. releases.

Norman

[Terasawa]

Hate how the TriStar DVD is still the sharpest out of those three screenshots lmao

His "Fuck!" is actually a response to how awful the Blu-ray looks.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Yeah the GMK Bluray looks like shit. I was hugely disappointed by how bad it looked. All they others look way better in comparison.

[JAGzilla]

A company like Arrow or Shout Factory would be more likely to do that and even then the chances are nil.

Why are the chances nil? Because Toho would be difficult about it? If Gamera can get a top-tier box set with all the bells and whistles, and Ultraman can get a whole massive collection of box sets, practically anything Godzilla seems like a no-brainer. The Heisei and Millennium movies may not be as historically significant as Showa, but they're very popular in the fandom and have the benefit of being relatively modern, presumably broadening their appeal.

[Terasawa]

But Gamera's and Ultraman's big releases haven't had to deal with Toho. That should be a hint as to why the later Godzilla films haven't been collected as such yet. Hell, the classic Godzillas were only released in a less than ideal collection. Criterion's ad copy says the Showa films showcase "the technical wizardry, fantastical storytelling, and indomitable international appeal that established the most iconic giant monster the cinema has ever seen"; if that's the best they could do for those films then imagine what Shout! Factory could do with the films for which you described the appeal as "very popular in the [Godzilla] fandom".

Another huge difference between Ultraman, Gamera, and the Heisei/Millennium Godzillas is that a potential distributor would have to sublicense most of those movies from Sony, where as Arrow and Mill Creek were able to work directly with the respective Japanese licensor.

[UltramanGoji]

A company like Arrow or Shout Factory would be more likely to do that and even then the chances are nil.

Why are the chances nil? Because Toho would be difficult about it? If Gamera can get a top-tier box set with all the bells and whistles, and Ultraman can get a whole massive collection of box sets, practically anything Godzilla seems like a no-brainer. The Heisei and Millennium movies may not be as historically significant as Showa, but they're very popular in the fandom and have the benefit of being relatively modern, presumably broadening their appeal.

The chances are nil because of the high licensing costs and, as Terasawa said, the reputation of dealing with Toho. James Flower at Arrow even mentioned it as such in an interview recently and I'm more than positive word got out from Criterion to other boutique labels about their difficult nature behind the scenes. I can totally believe these smaller labels would be unwilling to pay such high licensing prices for such low quality masters.

[Gojira-Fan]

Has anyone tried comparing the video quality of this set to the Sony DVDs? It seemed like the Sony DVDs were almost always superior upscaled to HD (with the exception of maybe Gigan, but definetly Mechagodzilla).

[mikelcho]

To get off-topic a little bit, I'd say the Sony Blu-rays goofed in one major way.

They should've put the two Kiryu films together on one release. Other than that, they look pretty good and I might decide to get more of them while I can, since one of them - Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah/Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth - seems to be going off the market. I did like the films when I saw them on VHS back in the day and it sounds like a good deal.

I've got a few questions, though, before I go ahead with this:

*Are these films Japanese version/American version combos; i.e., are they in both Japanese versions with subtitles (or dubtitles, I know some of them have them) and dubbed American versions?
*Have the Toho logos been restored to the beginning of the films that didn't have them before and was the same thing done with the closing credits (i.e., the closing song at the end of Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla and the closing montage at the end of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah)?
*On the VHS of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, I saw that it was spelled Ghidora on the box and in the subtitling of the title. However, I've seen on some shots of the same scene that it is correctly spelled Ghidorah. Is the latter on the current Blu-ray or not?

I'm just curious about these things; they probably won't influence my decision one way or another.

Any help here is appreciated. Thanks a lot!

P.S. If any of the mods feel that this post is on the wrong thread, please feel free to fix it and let me know that you did. Thanks again!

[Terasawa]

Has anyone tried comparing the video quality of this set to the Sony DVDs?

Yes, countless times over these 141 pages. The Cliffnotes version is that neither is perfect but the Sony transfers are better in most respects.

*Are these films Japanese version/American version combos; i.e., are they in both Japanese versions with subtitles (or dubtitles, I know some of them have them) and dubbed American versions?
*Have the Toho logos been restored to the beginning of the films that didn't have them before and was the same thing done with the closing credits (i.e., the closing song at the end of Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla and the closing montage at the end of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah)?
*On the VHS of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, I saw that it was spelled Ghidora on the box and in the subtitling of the title. However, I've seen on some shots of the same scene that it is correctly spelled Ghidorah. Is the latter on the current Blu-ray or not?

There are Blu-ray reviews on the main Toho Kingdom site that would answer all these questions. The reviews shouldn't be difficult to find.

But to your first question... Sony has released every Godzilla movie from 1991 to 2004 on Blu-ray as well as the '90s Mothra trilogy, and all of these Blu-rays give the viewer an option of Japanese or English audio. Of these films, however, only Godzilla 2000 has a true American version, i.e. a version of the film specifically created for American release. The other 13 movies were all dubbed in Hong Kong for Toho, thus "international versions", as they're usually known. So it's technically incorrect to call the English versions of those films "American versions".

[mikelcho]

Has anyone tried comparing the video quality of this set to the Sony DVDs?

Yes, countless times over these 141 pages. The Cliffnotes version is that neither is perfect but the Sony transfers are better in most respects.

*Are these films Japanese version/American version combos; i.e., are they in both Japanese versions with subtitles (or dubtitles, I know some of them have them) and dubbed American versions?
*Have the Toho logos been restored to the beginning of the films that didn't have them before and was the same thing done with the closing credits (i.e., the closing song at the end of Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla and the closing montage at the end of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah)?
*On the VHS of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, I saw that it was spelled Ghidora on the box and in the subtitling of the title. However, I've seen on some shots of the same scene that it is correctly spelled Ghidorah. Is the latter on the current Blu-ray or not?

There are Blu-ray reviews on the main Toho Kingdom site that would answer all these questions. The reviews shouldn't be difficult to find.

But to your first question... Sony has released every Godzilla movie from 1991 to 2004 on Blu-ray as well as the '90s Mothra trilogy, and all of these Blu-rays give the viewer an option of Japanese or English audio. Of these films, however, only Godzilla 2000 has a true American version, i.e. a version of the film specifically created for American release. The other 13 movies were all dubbed in Hong Kong for Toho, thus "international versions", as they're usually known. So it's technically incorrect to call the English versions of those films "American versions".

I read the reviews here yesterday and I can say that these Blu-ray releases are exactly what I've been looking for!

The only ones that haven't been given a review here are Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack/Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S./Godzilla: Final Wars, but I'm sure they're at the same level as the others. Hopefully, they'll get reviewed too.