594, 1000 Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954-1975

[bearcuborg]

No Matthew Broderick, no thanks.

I’ve haven’t seen any of these originals since I was a kid, and I don’t know if I’ll ever see them again, but the artwork is damn attractive.

[EddieLarkin]

Fantastic news.

My only gripe would be the lack of any new involvement by David Kalat.

At least we still get the two commentary from the previous release

They're not even carrying over his commentary from the Classic Media release of Ghidorah, which is particularly disappointing.

[swo17]

Disc breakdown:

Godzilla (1954) (+David Kalat commentary)
+ Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956) (+David Kalat commentary)

Godzilla Raids Again (1955)
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1963) (U.S. cut)
+ Japanese cut

Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964)
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964)
Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) (+English dub)

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)
Son of Godzilla (1967) (+English dub)
Destroy All Monsters (1968) (+English dub)

All Monsters Attack (1969)
Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) (+English dub)

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) (+English dub)
Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) (+English dub)

Supplements disc

[movielocke]

No dvd version. Blu only

[J Wilson]

It looks like the unique English-language cuts of the films on the Classic Media discs aren't included either. So I guess hang on to those if you have them.

[HitchcockLang]

Also, the three Kraken releases include English dubs and none of those films have dubs here. Also if you managed to grab the first editions of Tokyo Shock’s Destroy All Monsters or Megalon, those include supplements and multiple English dubs. This set certainly doesn’t replace much but it’s gorgeous and nice to have all the Shōwa films in HD and together in a single set.

[bad future]

I was holding out hope that Mothra and Rodan would be included as supplements.. I wonder if Criterion might release those as standalone(s)

Coolest surprise here for me is the great lineup of comic artists.. Adams, Darrow, Cloonan, Campbell... I see Sienkiewicz(!) advertised, but apparently just for the inside and not any of the covers, unless I missed one.

[EddieLarkin]

I wonder why the US version of King Kong vs Godzilla is being given precedent. As far as I know the quality of the Japanese version released on Blu-ray in Japan is about as good as the other releases. Perhaps it was a stipulation from Universal.

It's too bad we're not getting Rodan, since Mothra is available from Mill Creek, and both of them serve as origin films for the characters before they make their appearance in the Godzilla films. Hopefully Criterion plan an individual release, or a follow up box set at some point, with a few more non-Godzilla kaiju-eiga.

[ComradeMisato]

I was holding out hope that Mothra and Rodan would be included as supplements.. I wonder if Criterion might release those as standalone(s)

Coolest surprise here for me is the great lineup of comic artists.. Adams, Darrow, Cloonan, Campbell... I see Sienkiewicz(!) advertised, but apparently just for the inside and not any of the covers, unless I missed one.

If none of these merited standalone treatment, I doubt any of the non-Godzilla offerings will.

That said, it's nice to see someone else appreciating the artwork. There's so much complaining about it over at Toho Kingdom.

[Otastu]

What are the chances of this being region free like the Bergman set?

[jindianajonz]

What are the chances of this being region free like the Bergman set?

Between 0.00 and 1.00

[zedz]

I was holding out hope that Mothra and Rodan would be included as supplements.. I wonder if Criterion might release those as standalone(s)

Coolest surprise here for me is the great lineup of comic artists.. Adams, Darrow, Cloonan, Campbell... I see Sienkiewicz(!) advertised, but apparently just for the inside and not any of the covers, unless I missed one.

He did the cover for the existing Godzilla release, so presumably they're reusing all or some of that artwork.

[Orlac]

Interesting...no dub track for Ebirah, but they have the one for Astro Monster which is a weird anomaly as it only synced with the Japanese cut due to it leaving it bits in Japanese!

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

What are the chances of this being region free like the Bergman set?

I think this could happen if it gets a UK release, which is a possibility since it doesn't seem like any of these films have current UK editions (except King Kong vs. Godzilla, which has a Universal release that's presumably identical to their U.S. disc). Arrow's release of the Bloodthirsty Trilogy is region-free, probably because they licensed it for both the U.S. and the UK and I doubt Toho cares about region C one way or the other.

[HitchcockLang]

Criterion site updated to reflect that the Japanese King Kong vs Godzilla will be HD.

[Orlac]

I used to have the JP BD of KKvG. It was mostly intact, but little bits here and there were still of laserdisc vintage. The HD material had a lot of black crush. This was before they did a new HD master from the original 35mm materials.

[Otastu]

What are the chances of this being region free like the Bergman set?

I think this could happen if it gets a UK release, which is a possibility since it doesn't seem like any of these films have current UK editions (except King Kong vs. Godzilla, which has a Universal release that's presumably identical to their U.S. disc). Arrow's release of the Bloodthirsty Trilogy is region-free, probably because they licensed it for both the U.S. and the UK and I doubt Toho cares about region C one way or the other.

Plus the Mill Creek Mothra release is region free, so looking good from the Toho side but I'm unsure as to why they actually made the Bergman set region free but hopefully the same motivation applies for this release

[denti alligator]

My son said it's clear that it had to be spine thousand because Godzilla has a thousand spines--so he says--visible in that first shot in the trailer over which they advertise the spine number.

[FrauBlucher]

I'm curious, what is the difference between the Japanese and American versions of King Kong vs Godzilla? You can use the spoiler for those that don't want to know.

[Big Ben]

I'm curious, what is the difference between the Japanese and American versions of King Kong vs Godzilla? You can use the spoiler for those that don't want to know.

A detailed synopsis can be seen here under the "US release" section.

[Orlac]

The US release of KKVG is truly awful...it turns a light hearted parody into a lumbering mess. I'm amazed Universal let it go out in that state, but then they probably paid peanuts for it (the inserts are cheap as anything) and made millions, so what do I know?

Michael Keith did not go on to the heights of Raymond Burr...

[Calvin]

I'll still be getting this, because I doubt we'll ever get something similar (and better) in the future but this does feel like a Toho-compromised release. Toho have been working on 4K restorations of their Godzilla films, and I know the original and vs. King Kong are already in the can but it looks like all the titles here will be from the same masters as previous Blu-Ray releases. The lack of some dubs/Americanised versions bothers me less because I would watch the Japanese cuts by default, but nevertheless if they were included on previous Classic Media / Kraken releases then they really should have been included in a showcase release like this one.

[FrauBlucher]

Calvin, I think you inserted the wrong thing in the spoiler

[Calvin]

Apologies. I think putting a list inside a quote inside a spoiler may have messed up the formatting, so I've done away with all of them.

From Tyrannicus on Toho Kingdom:

Gojira/Godzilla: King of the Monsters

•Criterion Blu Ray (Japanese and Americanized versions)

Godzilla Raids Again

•Criterion Blu Ray (Japanese)
•Classic Media DVD (US "Gigantis, The Fire Monster" Americanized version)

King Kong vs Godzilla

•Criterion Blu Ray (Japanese and Americanized versions)

Mothra vs Godzilla

•Criterion Blu Ray (Japanese)
•Classic Media DVD (US "Godzilla vs The Thing" English dub)

Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster

•Criterion Blu Ray (Japanese)
•Classic Media DVD (US reconstructed English dub)

Invasion of Astro-Monster

•Criterion Blu Ray (Japanese and International English dub)

Godzilla vs the Sea Monster

•Criterion Blu Ray (Japanese)
•Kraken Blu Ray (International English dub)
•No release of Walter Reade TV English dub [VHS version]

Son of Godzilla

•Criterion Blu Ray (Japanese and International English dub)
•No release of Walter Reade TV English dub [VHS version]

Destroy All Monsters

•Criterion Blu Ray (Japanese and International English dub) [Sci-Fi Channel/VHS version]
•No release of AIP/Titan theatrical English dub (except for the out-of-print super rare 2011 Media Blasters version)

All Monsters Attack

•Criterion Blu Ray (Japanese)
•Classic Media DVD (US English dub)

Godzilla vs Hedorah

•Criterion Blu Ray (Japanese)
•Kraken Blu Ray (International English dub) [Sci-Fi Channel version]
•No release of AIP/Titan "Godzilla vs The Smog Monster" theatrical English dub [VHS/LaserDisc version]

Godzilla vs Gigan

•Criterion Blu Ray (Japanese)
•Kraken Blu Ray (Japanese and International English dub)

Godzilla vs Megalon

•Criterion Blu Ray (Japanese and International English dub)

Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla

•Criterion Blu Ray (Japanese and International English dub)

Terror of Mechagodzilla

•Criterion Blu Ray (Japanese and International English dub)

[yoloswegmaster]

Someone on the bluray.com forum emailed Jon Mulvaney about the absence of the 4k restoration of the original Godzilla, and he replied saying that Toho wouldn't let them use it.