August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

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August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

Post by mikelcho »

Anyone here know whatever happened to August Ragone? His website, The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla, hasn't been updated since December 6, 2018.

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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

Post by MaxRebo320 »

He's still around. He just hasn't updated his blog in years probably because even he realizes he's an irrelevant hack that nobody likes.
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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

Post by 2009MECHAGODZILLA »

You know you don't need to make three separate threads just to change the wording slightly, the edit function exists for a reason
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=21114

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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

Post by MaxRebo320 »

If anything, three threads about him just soothes Augie's diminishing ego.
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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

Post by canofhumdingers »

Dang, did he pee in your Cheerios or something? I don’t know the guy personally but his book on Tsuburaya is pretty great and he also helped arrange a double feature screening of 35mm prints of Monster Zero and War of the Gargantuas that I managed to attend once. I did meet him briefly twice and he seemed like a pretty nice guy to me.

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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

Post by Spuro »

Huh, I actually have that book.

Is it really that bad? :?
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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

Post by MaxRebo320 »

Kaiju-King42 wrote:Huh, I actually have that book.

Is it really that bad? :?
His book is OK. But he himself is a pompous douchebag.
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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

Post by airforce111 »

MaxRebo320 wrote:
Kaiju-King42 wrote:Huh, I actually have that book.

Is it really that bad? :?
His book is OK. But he himself is a pompous douchebag.
what did he say?

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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

Post by Rody »

Didn't Ragone also have a part in the debacle with Media Blasters? ...Not the bonus features one; I mean before it was even confirmed that Media Blasters would be releasing both DAM and MEGALON, and *certain people* were going around saying it was confirmed, leading to confusion (but, ultimately, perhaps directly leading to MB actually getting both - thus validating their behavior???).

It's regrettable that August Ragone seems to have such a bad attitude at times; he's definitely provided a lot of material and knowledge for the Western fanbase. I DO highly recommend his Eiji Tsuburaya book, if anyone doesn't have it already.

I'm guessing either Ragone has been busy with other, more pressing events lately, or he just hasn't seen enough traffic on his site to warrant updating it. He probably gets news out better through Twitter and other social media these days.

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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

Post by omgitsgodzilla »

I think what happened was he let the cat out of the bag early regarding the Media Blasters release, and MB wasn't ready to make an announcement so they initially denied it. It was clarified somewhere in SciFi Japan's coverage of the release.

As for the book and August in general, I've read some of it and it seems well-researched and informative. I've also spoken with the guy and found him very easy to talk to; he's got some interesting stories to tell. I don't personally dislike him.

I will say that he sometimes makes speculative statements in a way that makes them sound authoritative -- his reputation as someone who knows a lot about kaiju/tokusatsu, has written a book on it, and has been involved in a number of home video releases means people tend to take anything he says as fact, when he's not always any better informed than anyone else.

Take his retweet of the speculation that Toho would be announcing the Criterion Godzilla box set at SDCC:
@RagoneAugust wrote:Someone once told me that, "nothing Godzilla ever happens at San Diego Comic-Con..." Preview Night happened and look at a teaser of what Toho brought... And why is Criterion Cast there? Well, let's just say - perhaps - there's more Criterion Collection in the Big G's future... 8-)
The quoted tweet was from CriterionCast showing Toho's booth at SDCC. CriterionCast is a fan podcast and isn't actually affiliated with Criterion. August suggested they were, which was probably an honest mistake. He also gave undue credibility to then-rampant speculation by seeming to hint that he knew something that turned out not to be true, which is harder to write off. He didn't lie, and I wouldn't even say he meant to mislead anybody, but you would hope someone considered an authority on this stuff wouldn't do what he did do.

But yeah, there's that kind of thing, but I don't really know where some of the antipathy some people seem to have for the guy comes from. Perhaps there's something I'm forgetting, but aside from the need to take some of his statements with a grain of salt, I'm not really sure what people have against him.
Last edited by omgitsgodzilla on Sun Jan 26, 2020 7:22 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

Post by Terasawa »

^While shooting the shit with other fans online he's made statements like "I saw these movies before you were born." Whether intentionally dismissive or not, that's a comment that's bound to rub a lot of people the wrong way.

August is passionate, maybe boisterous, about his interests. He also has a huge personality, and it's a small fandom. I think that's a contributing reason to why he's not everyone's favorite guy.
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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

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In my personal experience August is quite knowledgeable. But he has become one of these types you see in the fandom from time to time. Where it's a mixture of things. Be it that he was there and when the films were on t.v. and or theaters and therefore his opinion is fact and is the only one that matters.

And even worse is the attitude that antone who far as disagree will be spammed or bombarded by him. Had to take him off social media a few years back since he would keep commenting on my posts and going into essentially really stupid arguments. And just be a contraction, because a few times he would pick fights and then at the end essentially say he didn't necessarily agree with what he was arguing about over movies or whatever.

Not to mention being a hypocrite in alot of ways with stuff like this as he would attack me at a point. A few years back when I would go on about my feelings about a certain movie. Yet for periods of time he would just jump in on conversations and bash Final wars and shin. My feelings on those films aside. It was just so stupid. Same with how someone like Cironella would be towards people and how he attacked people for enjoying the rifftrax mothra screenings. Or if you talk negatively about Revenge of Irys he might just appear out of nowhere to tell you that you're wrong lol.

Just so lame that some of these older fans who have been so knowledgeable about these films and the genre at times have become so toxic and aggressive at times.

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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

Post by o.supreme »

Personally, I give the man a lot of credit because we both lived in the same geographic region for a time (SF Bay Area). He's lived in Japan, knows the language etc... He was an *apprentice* if you will to local horror host and legend Bob Wilkins (RIP) *My father was also on Bob Wilkins show as an amateur film maker in the 70's, but I digress... I give Ragone credit with assisting Wilkins with his kids show, and airing locally of shows such as Ultraman, Spectreman, Space Giants, Star Blazers etc... I know other affiliates had them as well, but they just seemed to be more memorable for people in my age group, in this geographical area. celebrated, rather than just being another show on TV. I also attended my first ever Japanese Sci-Fi convention at the age of 6 in 1982, which I am pretty sure Ragone had a part in.

All that being said, as others have related, he is passionate. I saw him yell at a few fans in a crowded room at G-Fest 2000 because there was some technical difficulties with some audio/video equipment at a showing of an Ultraman Movie, and they were giving him a hard time. Probably not the proper response, but nobody likes being heckled, especially under pressure. The man is a former bouncer, and probably had to respond violently at times to certain situations. I wouldn't mind buying him a beer and just shooting the breeze with the man for a while about Japanese Sci-Fi in General, But that same could be said for almost everyone I talk to in forums, or have met at conventions in person. I'd maybe tell him to relax a bit when he responds online, to which I'm sure he'd refute ;) (Besides he still owes me $6.00 or a Markalite #4 8-) )

No single fan is the *end-all-be all* to this fandom, but I do appreciate the friendships I've made along the way, and I hope it continues. It may sound generic, but I really try to follow the golden rule both in person, and on forums. I realize I'm not perfect either, and so as to not be hypocritical, I do apologize to anyone who may be offended at my comments at times, and I continue to apologize when the situation warrants it.
Last edited by o.supreme on Mon Jan 27, 2020 1:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

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G-MAN wrote:Yet for periods of time he would just jump in on conversations and bash Final wars and shin. My feelings on those films aside. It was just so stupid.
August's insistence that Shin Godzilla was going to be a box office bomb/lose money after a week (Because HE didn't like it) despite it very obviously not being so pretty much killed any credibility he had left.

Dude really hates Shin Godzilla, which fine, but also has disdain for new Ultraman shows (And just about anything made after we were born), which really makes no sense, as they feature old fashioned techniques, constantly returning monsters, references, etc. that he has no reason not to love. And yet the guy apparently liked the Godzilla anime movies, which makes no fucking sense.
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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

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MaxRebo320 wrote:
G-MAN wrote:Yet for periods of time he would just jump in on conversations and bash Final wars and shin. My feelings on those films aside. It was just so stupid.
August's insistence that Shin Godzilla was going to be a box office bomb/lose money after a week (Because HE didn't like it) despite it very obviously not being so pretty much killed any credibility he had left.

Dude really hates Shin Godzilla, which fine, but also has disdain for new Ultraman shows (And just about anything made after we were born), which really makes no sense, as they feature old fashioned techniques, constantly returning monsters, references, etc. that he has no reason not to love. And yet the guy apparently liked the Godzilla anime movies, which makes no skreeonking sense.
I think there's valid reasons to dislike the modern Ultra-man series, but this isn't the place to get into that discussion.

My own take on this debacle, is that his book is pretty good. I'm sure he is probably knowledgeable about a lot more than most people on this site. However, I'd like to point out a lot of this, is common knowledge and easily accessible from the Japanese guidebooks. There's countless behind the scenes books published in Japan detailing a lot. Not trying to undersell his book, I'm just saying this appears to be another case of "I live in Japan and speak Japanese" so that means I'm a bigger fan than you, or hipsterism of "I discovered it first". Now granted, I do think that there is a legitimate sentiment and emotion behind all this, mainly, "I put a lot of time and passion into research, before this was all easily accessible" and I do think that's completely valid emotion to have. But at the same time, you shouldn't be on a high horse for it...

Anyways, August Ragone did not introduce me to Godzilla. My dad/the Sci-fi channel and the old VHS store did.
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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

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LSD Jellyfish wrote:I think there's valid reasons to dislike the modern Ultra-man series, but this isn't the place to get into that discussion.
I mean sure, I can get the toyeticism making it hard to enjoy for some people (I acknowledge that as being my least favorite part of it), but it makes no sense for a supermegafan like Augie to not enjoy them given all of the aforementioned traits they have that he'd obviously dig, especially when he apparently enjoys smut like the Godzilla anime movies. And his apparent criticisms of the shows go beyond just their toy-plugging, like the protagonists all being "pretty boys" (Something the old shows NEVER had), Ultramen not being "tough" anymore, etc.

That said, I'm sure he still watches the shows in secret.
Last edited by MaxRebo320 on Tue Jan 28, 2020 5:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

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G-MAN wrote: My own take on this debacle, is that his book is pretty good. I'm sure he is probably knowledgeable about a lot more than most people on this site. However, I'd like to point out a lot of this, is common knowledge and easily accessible from the Japanese guidebooks. There's countless behind the scenes books published in Japan detailing a lot. Not trying to undersell his book, I'm just saying this appears to be another case of "I live in Japan and speak Japanese" so that means I'm a bigger fan than you, or hipsterism of "I discovered it first". Now granted, I do think that there is a legitimate sentiment and emotion behind all this, mainly, "I put a lot of time and passion into research, before this was all easily accessible" and I do think that's completely valid emotion to have. But at the same time, you shouldn't be on a high horse for it...
Are these sources more accessible today than in the past? Those guidebooks have been published since at least the 1980s, but there are other sources of information about Eiji Tsuburaya than those such as interviews with people who worked with him and those who knew him, Toho and Tsuburaya company records, home movies, memorabilia, government records, etc. I haven't read Ragone's Masters of Monsters book yet, but I would expect an authoritative biography would have gone beyond "Toho Special Effects Series Vols 1-x" in its research and sources. Ragone can speak Japanese, most of us cannot, so even those works are far more accessible to him than to us.

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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

Post by UltramanGoji »

I don’t really have a problem with August, maybe the occasional condescending Twitter post gets on my nerves but nothing against the man himself. I met him once at G-FEST and he was nice enough to sign my copy of his book.

Speaking of, I can definitely say theres way more to it than his Toho work. There’s at least 2-3 chapters before Godzilla is even mentioned. It’s one of the best English-language sources on Tsuburaya and his films. Yes, the info has been out there but people have to understand that the majority of the Western Godzilla fandom does not speak Japanese nor do they have the means to easily acquire these texts. Ragone at least deserves major props for corralling this information together in a book you can order in two clicks on Amazon.
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Re: August Ragone and The Good, the Bad, and Godzilla

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UltramanGoji wrote:I don’t really have a problem with August, maybe the occasional condescending Twitter post gets on my nerves but nothing against the man himself. I met him once at G-FEST and he was nice enough to sign my copy of his book.

Speaking of, I can definitely say theres way more to it than his Toho work. There’s at least 2-3 chapters before Godzilla is even mentioned. It’s one of the best English-language sources on Tsuburaya and his films. Yes, the info has been out there but people have to understand that the majority of the Western Godzilla fandom does not speak Japanese nor do they have the means to easily acquire these texts. Ragone at least deserves major props for corralling this information together in a book you can order in two clicks on Amazon.
I agree with this a lot.

I'll just put this out there, Master of Monsters isn't just informative, it's ENTERTAINING. In a way, the book reads like a biography (duh) but sort of reads like a narrative when it goes over his early life. A lot of people undermine the importance of biographies like that.

Also, on an academic level, this is important. It allows for academic essays to be written on a scholarly level. Of course you could cite Japanese books, but hey that's difficult, and will be scrutinized unless you yourself would be fluent.
Last edited by LSD Jellyfish on Tue Jan 28, 2020 10:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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