GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE DVD/Blu-ray from Echo Bridge

[Ivo-goji]

Godzilla vs Biollante is getting a lot tougher to find, but it isn't quite as bad as some of the middle Showa series dvds, which have run up to over $100. When they exist, that is. I still haven't seen hyde or hair of a legit Son of Godzilla dvd.

Perhaps the halcyon days of kaiju video bootlegging aren't quite behind us yet.

[mikelcho]

You guys must really know where to look for look for this film.

My local FYE has never had any clearance copies of Godzilla vs. Biollante, Echo Ridge Blu-ray or otherwise.

[shadowgigan]

I still have it on VHS from when I was a child. Wish I had the Japanese DVD however. I only had a region 1 DVD player when I was little and never got around to buying any movies that I already had on VHS.

Is this DVD worth getting? I do enjoy displaying my film collection.

[goji89]

Is this DVD worth getting? I do enjoy displaying my film collection.

What kind of crazy question is that......

[Chrispy_G]

I'm wondering if the license my expire at some point, or if there is any hope of a new edition from Lionsgate or ANYONE?

I know Ed Godzisewski(or one of the usual suspect Godzilla expert journos) did an audio commentary for it, for Lionsgate/Echo Bridge.....I would hope that one day we could get an edition of the film that includes it. For so many Godzilla films, so few of them have audio commentaries....and that is by far my favorite bonus feature for any film.

[mikelcho]

Still waiting for an offer to buy this Blu-ray.

Does anyone out there have a copy that they can spare? Please?

[Pkmatrix]

Still waiting for an offer to buy this Blu-ray.

Does anyone out there have a copy that they can spare? Please?

Sorry, out of luck on my end. :/

I did go check out the stores that I've seen have it before, particularly the FYE near me I mentioned earlier. I was confused to find they had NO Godzilla movies at all. Searching around, I found they had set up a separate Godzilla section, but only had a handful available (no Biollantes). I spoke with the manager, who said that since they'd had such a huge surplus of Godzilla movies for so long they decided to set up the section to time with KOTM coming out in theaters. The copies of Biollante they still had (when I showed her a pic on my phone of what it looked like, she thought there had been two or three) were sold in early June when there was a small surge in people coming in looking for Godzilla stuff. I also checked out a few second-hand places around here that I'd seen have it before, but no luck either. Sorry. :/

I can make another sweep, as it's been a few weeks since I looked. Lots of stories that could potentially have at least used copies around here.

[o.supreme]

wow....just looking on Amazon & ebay I had no idea how the price had spiked on this one. It had been released at least 3 times (once First By Echo Bridge then twice by Lionsgate...or maybe the other way around...) also packaged with other films...but man.... There are still many other films, older releases which don't demand THIS MUCH on the secondary market. There is a used DVD chain in my area going out of business, but found nothing there. makes me glad I have mine though.

If you want the actual Echo Bridge or Lionsgate BRD, that is going to be tough, fortunately finding the film itself isn't as hard.

[the-killer-wc]

I know right?! Im having my mom send my movies from Venezuela because at first I thought "Im sure I can buy them again later on" When I got to see it goes insanely high. Well the good thing is coming safely.

[TitanosaurusFan]

Fortunately I got the Lionsgate DVD recently for just $22. My Blu Ray player upscales it nicely, no need for the Blu Ray.

[deadman31]

Still waiting for an offer to buy this Blu-ray.

Does anyone out there have a copy that they can spare? Please?

PM sent

[GodzillaRangerPrime]

Ooof, I regret getting the dvd and not the blu-ray when it was first released

Here’s hoping someone does a Heisei Era box set lol

[mikelcho]

Guess what? My Echo Bridge Blu-ray of Godzilla vs. Biollante is on its way even now and it's new, wrapped and sealed!

Persistence triumphs every time! Thank you Michael, wherever you are!

[Tohosaurus]

Ooof, I regret getting the dvd and not the blu-ray when it was first released

Here’s hoping someone does a Heisei Era box set lol

Makes me wonder if they still have the movie or if it is available for another distributor (maybe that's been discussed in this thread).

[Great Hierophant]

I have read that the first pressing of the Echo Bridge release, which I (unfortunately) own, has an audio issue for the left channel in at least one of the audio tracks. Can anyone tell me more about this issue?

[goji1986]

I have read that the first pressing of the Echo Bridge release, which I (unfortunately) own, has an audio issue for the left channel in at least one of the audio tracks. Can anyone tell me more about this issue?

Sadly I am in the same boat as you, but I found out about this maybe two or three years ago… basically, one of the rear surround channels does not have any audio output into it. No idea why. Apparently echo bridge did issue a replacement to those who complained, but that was years ago and it was not made known on this forum, which is a shame since they were so open to letting us know what was going on behind the scenes before the release.

[heiseigodzilla425]

I posted some detailed information regarding EchoBridge's release of Godzilla vs. Biollante's audio issue on the old Sci-Fi Japan forum, which is technically still accessible, but that forum has existed in a broken state for about a year and a half. My Sci-Fi Japan post from 2014

Here's the gist from that old post:

I ripped the audio from my original Blu-ray and my replacement Blu-ray, and imported the resulting DTS files into Audacity. Interestingly, it looks like the old disc not only had an empty channel for the left rear speaker, but the LFE (subwoofer) channel is empty as well. The good news is that it looks like the replacement disc does in fact correct the audio issues that the old discs had. I've attached images of the audio tracks in case you'd like to see them. Each disc has two audio channels for the 5.1 tracks: DTS and DTS-HD. Players that support DTS-HD will combine these tracks, otherwise the regular DTS track will be played alone. Both the DTS and DTS-HD tracks on the original release have the two empty audio channels.

Release Date Purchase - 1st DTS file

Release Date Purchase - 2nd DTS file

Replacement Disc - 1st DTS file

Replacement Disc - 2nd DTS file


I also noticed a difference in the packaging between my new disc and old disc. My replacement disc has the "Dolby Digital" and "dts-HD Master Audio" logos located on the back cover, to the right of the rating and above the Blu-ray Disc logo. The original disc lacks these logos. Its possible that this could indicate which disc you have, but I can't be certain of that.



I never took more photos, but I also noticed another change between the covers as well. On the original disc, on the back cover under the film information (MIRAMAX PRESENTS A TOHO PRODUCTION...), there is copyright information that says "© 1992 MIRAMAX - http://WWW.MIRAMAX.COM". You can see that line from my original cover in the photo that I posted. My replacement disc instead says "© 2012 MIRAMAX - http://WWW.MIRAMAX.COM".

EchoBridge also released Biollante on DVD and later went on to re-release Biollante in several combo packs with other movies, and LionsGate later re-released Biollante under their label (though the cover art and contents of the disc should be nearly identical to the EchoBridge release). I do not have any of the combo-packs or the LionsGate releases, so I don't know if those have the issue as well.

[Terasawa]

^Excellent post, thanks!

I think I might have some of the details wrong now, but I believe the English dub audio is also compromised as well, at least on the original release. EB's source was a fan-supplied copy of the U.S. LaserDisc. IIRC, he (not sure he wants identified) suggested they use only the right audio channel as the other had severe clipping issues, but EB apparently didn't take his advice.

Also, although it's billed as a new translation, the English subs default to the dubbing script for quite a bit of the film's dialogue. There are some select lines which greatly differ from the dub, but the entire script is certainly not a new translation at all.

[omgitsgodzilla]

So they did use the LD audio? I thought they couldn't find it and used the VHS instead.

[goji1986]

So they did use the LD audio? I thought they couldn't find it and used the VHS instead.

IIRC the VHS audio has that warble in the soundtrack when the Super X2 launches and that’s not present on the BD.