Just a minor thing I want to correct -- at 54:17 I state that the low-contrast prints used for Toho's HD transfers are at most 20 years old; I think when I wrote that I was assuming that they were struck for Toho's DVD releases, which they started doing around the turn of the millennium. While I can't recall the specifics offhand, I've since gathered that they were probably used for video releases as far back as the 1980s. That's still newer than the Champion Festival dupe elements, and I think the larger point still stands, but the difference in age between these materials is apparently less dramatic than I believed when I was writing this video.
Looking forward to the future, there are a few key factors: -The 70th anniversary of the franchise in 2024, which might see the release of a new Monsterverse film AND a new Toho Godzilla film - which would make it a much bigger year than 2019 and the 65 year anniversary. -I think Criterion is playing for keeps with these films, or this franchise. They recently screened both The Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs Biollante, and those screenings had the Janus logo on the front. We can probably assume that Criterion's business with Godzilla has been lucrative and they want to continue beyond the Showa era. -Classic Media first put out bare bones dub only DVD releases of 5 Godzilla Films before later putting out Collector's Editions with extras and other versions. Criterion was given a lot of freedom when they released the original film in 2012. So I don't think we are in a case where Toho "Never ever always and forever" would allow Criterion to do more with these films. -Toho is also slowly restoring all of the films into 4K. -Criterion has shown in the past that they will spend years developing certain box set releases(Olympics set) and that they will "upgrade" prior releases into new formats or releases. -Something tells me that 2024 might be an opportunity that is seized upon to get "something much more and much better" on the Criterion-Godzilla front. -Just as Criterion's first release was only the first Godzilla film, and then that film was folded into a larger release that put all of the Showa films into a single box....maybe in 2024 we will see the Showa films folded into a release(or series of multi-volume releases) that includes more films. -I think Sony's Heisei films licenses are sliding out of their hands. I think in 2023 the rest of them go. -So the stars are certainly aligning for Criterion to continue to become the de-facto home for all of the vintage Godzilla Films -I have a hope that Criterion playing nice with Toho and continuing the partnership will pay off down the road. -I hold out hope that at SOME point(2024 would be nice) that Criterion will return to Godzilla and will hopefully take a long time and be provided enough freedom by Toho to finally give us all the releases of the films we want to see. -4K restoration sources, US alternate versions and multiple English Dubs, more archival and new audio commentaries, perhaps multiple volumes covering the first 50 years of films Maybe releases that could include tangential films like Rodan, Mothra and War of the Gargantuas. Who knows...But I'm an eternal optimist. I hope that Criterion and Toho will come to an agreement that is mutually beneficial and worthwhile and ultimately gives the fans what we all want to see...which would be a line up of consistent, quality, comprehensive releases for the entire Godzilla library. I even hope that Toho caught wind of the Arrow Gamera set and is perhaps looking to blow it away out of sheer pride and pettiness.
Interesting to see where we are.in the closing days of 2024. So far 8 Godzilla films have been remastered in 4K and released on disc in Japan with 6 more scheduled for next year. Out of all those films, only the 54 film has been released by Criterion over here. Sony has officially lost all distribution rights to Godzilla VS King Ghidorah and Godzilla VS Mothra. Those two films are now with Criterion and are in their streaming channel. Sony still has the other three Heisei films and all the Milennium films. Guess we'll have to see what happens next.
@michaelrusso906 G54 in 4K is certainly better than nothing. It is progress. We can only hope that either: A - Criterion & Toho continue their partnership and Criterion continues to pursue Godzilla rights for future 4K releases or sets, or even standard Blu Ray releases. B - Toho's success with handling Godzilla Minus One on their own in the US leads to them perhaps pursuing THEIR OWN releases of Godzilla films onto Blu Ray or 4K disc over here...looking to cut out the "Middle Man" of Criterion over time.
@michaelrusso906 and just like that, Godzilla vs Biollante announced for a stand alone 4K release from Criterion! With an audio commentary and bonus features of its own. Truly a bit of a welcome surprise. Now it's time to vote with our wallets!
This is a MASSIVELY informative video that covers a ton of ground very eloquently. My copy of the set is waiting for me at my local B&N right now and I am very much looking forward to picking it up tomorrow despite the compromises. Toho‘s lack of commitment to restoring these movies is a never-ending frustration but considering I grew up with these films on VHS, I can live with soft blu-rays...for now.
I still watch this video a couple times a year. Honestly, I'd love to see you do a massive multi part video on the full history of Godzilla on physical media.
This is still the best way to watch the Showa Era movies. Hopefully Criterion can get a second try with these films so we can get the perfect collection of the original Godzilla series. And then hopefully they can get started on the Heisei Era films which should be much easier to release.
I have a hope/feeling that the Criterion-Godzilla-Toho relationship is ongoing and hopefully improving. In 2012 the original Godzilla release was comprehensive. Great HD presentation, both versions of the film, each had a commentary and copious extras. It clearly performed well or they wouldn't have gone in for the whole Showa Era and bestowed it the coveted Spine #1000 We got 15 films, but outside of the first film it was quite bare bones. Many missing English versions, a number of missing dubs, and not the best presentations. I think Toho being difficult was only one realm of issues with the set, I think Criterion wanted to, as much as possible, perhaps test the market. It feels like a budget released by Criterion standards in many regards. Almost as if in addition to Toho being difficult, Criterion themselves was restrained and holding back. By all accounts Spine #1000 performed very well for them in sales. Could you imagine the hype and publicity if, come 2024 for the 70th anniversary, it was revealed that Spine #1000 was getting an "upgrade" that was completely comprehensive? Multiple versions, multiple dubs, audio commentaries, significantly improved restorations and presentations, the works. The sort of "Everything we hoped for" kind of set. It would easily be twice the cost of the original Spine #1000 but I think it would be worth every penny.
this was good and pretty informative. I knew how tricky the state godzilla home video has been but having it all laid out was very nice. Also I was kinda ignorant about just how bad Toho's pure hi-vision stuff was and just the nature of how they were made until now.
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Very in-depth discussion of the package and disc features, thanks! I didn’t realize some of the movies come without English dubs. This is astounding to me and goes to show how little media companies care about accessibility. I’m legally blind, so reading subtitles is very difficult. I’m considering writing to Criterion about this. Given lack of dubs, can you point out the best releases with dubs for those movies lacking them here? In fact, it would be great to hear your preferred version for all these Showa films, since there are so many. I have this Criterion set but I guess I’m going to have to still buy additional copies so I can comfortably watch some of these movies.
@@andrewsydlik8618 Yes, I would love a video series where he discusses the best home video release for each film. From sound, picture, and edit quality.!
Thank you for all the info in the video! Sucks that Criterion was held back from releasing these in the definitive set we all wanted but it will be nice to have them all in one set. About to go grab my set from Barnes and Noble now.
Hopefully for a 4K UHD set Toho will allow Criterion more freedom lol. Especially since I keep hearing that Toho is planning a US Headquarters in LA. Fingers Crossed!!!
Thanks for mentioning Nick Adams and it's great to hear someone else expressing his enjoyment of his role as Glenn. Nothing against Raymond Burr as Steve Martin, but Nick Adams was TONS OF FUN to watch. His charisma in that film almost made Monster Zero feel like a Western in space at times. Such a great American actor who I see died 3 years after Godzilla vs. Monster Zero was released. And he was only 36.
That was excellent, thank you very much. I was on the fence because it’s really expensive and I am only missing two of the films. I think after weighing out the good and bad I will make the investment. Again, really well done.
Absolutely one of the best if not the best review of this criterion package. Extremely well researched and invaluable for those looking to purchase this package. Congratulations! Also a big thank you for explaining the situation that licenses have with Toho and regards to their transfers. Allow me to add a little more clarification with attitude. Back in the laser disk days there was a large laser disc store that I would go to. They would frequently have on the counter, a glossy brochure to give away which would announce upcoming releases. The guy running the store knew I love the Godzilla films and I would buy a lot of Japanese import laser disk from him. On this particular brochure, he pointed out a double page spread announcing the criterion is Ishiro Honda laser disc collection.. Six of Honda Godzilla films would be given a restoration and lavish treatment by criterion. I waited and waited for these disc, but nothing was released. About a year later, I asked the clerk what happened to thediscs and he told me that they would not be coming out and it had to do with criterions release of the seven samurai. It seems that criterion had done an extensive restoration on this Japanese classic and in an act of goodwill they sent the results Of their restoration work to Toho. Tell her was completely offended that someone would show more care to their films than they did and canceled the release of the Godzilla discs. Yep, they were offended that someone showed more care than they did and showed them up. This kind of behavior from Toho is not a surprise. In regards to King Kong versus Godzilla, Toho did indeed cut their negative and lost the trims. When it came time to release the film on VHS and laser disc, Toho had to utilize a faded scope, print of the film to fill in the missing footage and it looked horrible . When they re-issued the film a second time on laser disk, Toho had the tools to color correct these scenes so that they would look a little better. Period. My understanding, the new 4K is sourced from a recently discovered print that reportedly looks terrific. Fat chance seeing anyone in the states being able to license it.
Thanks for this. You’re the only one that bothered to talk about all the video details on TH-cam that I could find. Some really disappointing things about this. I was all in, but after this I think I might just be out. It’ll be painful for me to rewatch the softer transfers compared to the recent releases. Ugh. I guess I also might have finally reached my limit on how many times I can buy these films over the decades. I do think the packaging is gorgeous though.
Thanks for the in-depth review! They shoulda came out with this a long time ago, i already spent alot of money buying those films over the past couple of years.
Thanks for this awesome video and all the hard work that has gone into this. Still not sure if I'm going to pick this release up, despite the current Black Friday discount.
Bought this set but hated how they packed the discs on such narrow slots. It was impossible to remove the discs on the second page without scratching them so I had to rip the cardboard apart and take out the discs and put them in separate Blu-ray cases.
I only found out about this last night and ordered it this morning. I am disappointed that digital versions dont seem to be included. Be nice to keepsake the actual discs and display the cool book
Has anyone noticed that on disc three there is a line of distortion across the bottom of the picture, just above the black bar, whenever a shot change happens? It’s does not happen with the other discs (at least so far). I have tried it on three different Blu Ray players.
Stephen Bieth Those are the actual splices between shots. Toho’s transfers have the framing opened up about as wide as possible, meaning they capture areas of the frame that probably wouldn’t have been visible when projected.
Worse than the Toho-supplied transfers is Toho's irresponsible, revisionist, cowardly dismissal of the US versions. Shame on you, Toho. Criterion is the only label that could have given the poorly preserved US versions the restorations they deserve. Toho's current, awful transfers of the Japanese versions are temporary, but their death wish for the US versions - many of which feature unique footage shot in their own studios - is forever. SHAME ON YOU, TOHO.
Not a fan of the packaging. Some special edition blu-rays that act more as props or display pieces make sense and I don't have a problem with, but this thing is just inconvenient. I'll never understand why companies think people want packaging that isn't going to fit in with the rest of their blu-rays. The book is nice I guess, but there's no reason it couldn't have been shrunk down and fit inside a regular blu-ray case.
Great Video, To be clear, Does Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla '74 have the english dub? I thought you said it did not but i'm just confirming. If it does not, Can we expect a recon of it? I always wanted the dubbed version on blu ray. Thanks for the great content, Subscribed!
I'm a little confused on the special features I heard something about there being 2 extra discs with plenty of supplements and the only ones being the first godzilla
All the extras from the standalone Criterion release of the original film are included on that film's disc in the new set. All the other extras are own their own disc (and that includes the japanese cut of KKvG, which is apparently considered an "extra" because of Universal and Toho's complex licensing of the US cut)
If we were to get the true versions of the movies in new HD transfers, the set would HAVE to cost over a thousand dollars as Japan's home release market is so distributor driven. I'm a long time anime collector so I'm shocked that this set was able to reach "same quality" levels with some American only bonuses... though your mileage may very on how much you value the American cuts of Godzilla and King Kong versus Godzilla. And it wouldn't surprise me to learn that Criterion was forced to combine as many movies as possible on each disc. The saddest fact is that this set replaces very few of the "just sit down and watch" Godzilla films. I watched the Criterion version of Ghidorah and I still prefer the dubbed recut version which has a lot less of a "Waiting for Ghidorah" feel to it and has some of its logical/logistics issues regarding the professor and his "isolated" campsite removed.
I don't see why the size of the Japanese home video market would affect the price of a product created for and released in the American market. It would absolutely be more expensive than it is, but I think $1000 is a stretch. It would probably be priced more like Criterion's Bergman box set if anything.
@@KyodaiKino It's not really a matter of reverse importation, it's more like a mindset of "Japanese entertainment is strictly for Japanese consumption". By default, outside releases have to be inferior than their Japanese counterparts. Things like "locked in subtitles" and cramming as much material on a disc as possible are done to make them appear to be inferior... why are the top Godzilla sequels cluttered together on the same BD? To make the set itself less desirable to the Japanese market... to allay Japanese producers fears of Reverse Importation through intentionally releasing an inferior product. I've been collecting anime and Japanese movies on DVD/VHS for decades and I honestly think their methodology is having foreign markets release inferior products as to reduce the possibility of reverse importation rather than combating the idea of reverse importation itself as their primary goal. People can just get Region B/Region Free players but that's not Japan's true concern. Region B releases have as much compression yet they don't have the prices of competitive Region A North American releases made by Japanese companies like Aniplex of America. So in order to release a product superior to a Japanese region A release, it has to be more expensive than one of them. ... and since each Japanese region A movie is between 50-100 dollars, a box set of them should cost between 750 and 1500 dollars. And that's for an equal product, for one that's both better and all inclusive... I wouldn't want to think about the price. I have the Criterion set and it's amazing that it exists at all on Region A BD.
Will Criterion be selling this box set in Japan and Europe? I hope that Criterion makes a ton of money on this box set by paying a rather low fixed price for the licensing fees and then selling a million of these boxes at $225 each. Maybe then we can get from Criterion some more of the classic Japanese sci-fi and Kaiju movies from the 1960s and 70s such as the stand alone Mothra and Rodan films, Gamera, and the war in outer space type movies with extensive use of models and miniatures.
iakona23 It does seem to be selling well, in no small part because it was released right before the Barnes & Noble sale. As for other regions, I know the UK’s getting it; don’t know about the rest of Europe. Japanese fans seem to be importing it as well.
Kyodai Kino I’m assuming that the Godzilla set is region locked, although I don’t know. But Japan and the USA Blu-ray regions are the same anyway so you can always import Japanese blu-rays, and vice-versa. I have heard that the Criterion Ingmar Bergman box set is region-free.
Interesting. I only skimmed the set for this video; I didn't think to compare that with my totally legal copy of the Toho Blu-ray and see if the 4.0 was similarly out of sync. How bad is it?
@@KyodaiKino I specifically watched the sub scene and the helicopter scene and it's about a half second to full second out of sync. It's pretty noticeable. I wanna say its such a small part of the film it doesn't matter, but even a first time viewer would notice.
@@akaneskiryu4119 yeah it's present on the toho bluray as well. Not sure if it's just confined to the 4.0 mix but I know it's been a issue with the Japanese version as well for awhile.
@@akaneskiryu4119 ok so many just an audio issue related to the 4.0 mix then. And nice are you sourcing it from a capture of a 2019 broadcast? As I've don't light restoration on one myself to remove as much pixealtion from the broadcast copy I have being it captured at a lower bitrate.
So overall, it appears the only DVD/Blu-Rays I can safely get rid of are the original Criterion Godzilla 54 and Godzilla vs. Megalon Blu-ray? I'm trying to determine which releases become redundant with this release.
HA HA !!! My man Kyodai...I see you have, like myself, an extensive collection of Godzilla Japanese version only Blu Rays from...well from the name on the bottom which have added English subs!!! oh yeah!!! even though the PLETHORA of awesome extras are in Japanese only it is amazing what the Japanese versions give you huh??!!! even though I cannot mention the name of the "COMPANY" as I got my hand slapped 1 time for mentioning it on YT when I found this incredible website I went bonkers!!! anyways you know what I'm talking about. Nice collection my friend of VCR tapes in what looks like incredible condition. On the Japanese version of KK VS G (if you have it??) isn't the extra of Atami Castle a really cool extra or what!!! I really wished they would've English subbed the interviews. The interview with Tomoko Ai or "Katsura" as we know her from "Terror of MG" is an example . also would've been great to have the Japanese audio commentary on the movie English subbed as we can hear THEIR perspective on the movies. by the way all my comments above have nothing to do with the Criterion release.
Thanks for sharing this informative guide. I do have a few questions. Do you think we will ever hear the audio commentary for the 2012 release of godzillavs biollante somehow. Do you think that criterion would pick up the heisei and millinuem movies as well and if they get Godzilla vs biollante, do you think they will pick up the commentary from lions gate Miramar?
I doubt we'll see more Godzilla from Criterion any time soon. Their approach to the licensing for this set suggests a preference for licensing directly from Toho as opposed to sublicensing from other US distributors, and Sony's rights to most of the Heisei-era films won't expire for a few years yet. Return of Godzilla should be up for grabs in 2021, but without Godzilla 1985, there's not much that Criterion could do for it that Kraken didn't, and the rest frankly don't have nearly the pop-cultural impact and relevance that the Showa films do.
@@rileyroberts6003 Probably not. The commentary was commissioned by Echo Bridge; as far as I'm aware Lionsgate owns it outright. Unless they pass it along to whoever releases the film next, I don't think we'll ever hear it.
What if some of us already Completed the entire Godzilla Collection DVD & Blu ray anyway we can shelf the VHS collection , I'm Not crazy about this packaging the Book should have had old B&W movie Pics and all pictures of other Monster, like a coffee table Book and Art from Dark horse comics, those Really good covers , What would have been cool if the Disc had a Reez picture case, one of my friends still has a 1960 movie projector with Destroy All Monster Film and it has the scratch line you see in old movie , It looks so cool when he set it up on a wall , That would have been nice to have ,
four years later and still no heisei era collection, which sucks because this showa collection is the only way official way to watch godzilla here with still nothing for the heisei and millennium movies
I'm not sure I really mind that the transfers aren't super sharp, I have a soft spot for the shitty VHS quality that I grew up with, and I often watch movies in narrow aspect ratios on CRTs anyway, which of course won't be as sharp as a modern LCD.
domestic release prints of the Showa Godzilla films would have been run off the original negative. This was still common in Japan and most of the world at this time. There is evidence in the Champion cut of Astro Monster that at least one section of the o-neg was replaced with dupe negative early on, probably to replace a damaged portion... this wasn’t uncommon. The HV transfers of Astro-Monster and Mothra vs Godzilla actually look much WORSE than an original, domestic release print, since they were transferred from low-con prints struck from surviving internegatives of the uncut versions. They look about how the US prints would have looked. To;dr the HV transfers do NOT look better than original release prints.
Figures I'd make a fool of myself assuming Toho would at any point take a sensible approach to handling irreplaceable film materials. Then again, I suppose they wouldn't need as many release prints as American studios would, Japan being a smaller market, making it perhaps a slightly less reckless use of the negative.
@@KyodaiKino You’re not a fool, this is just information that is strangely poorly documented online. Wikipedia pretty much only covers the last 20 or 30 years of film lab work and duplication procedures. Again, this wasn’t a Toho problem specifically. It was common practice throughout the world. It didn’t occur to studios to not wear the negatives out and treat their films the way they did because they didn’t have a profit motive for it. It took until video for that to happen. I don’t know what the print runs were like in Japan at that time, but what I do know is the exhibition industry exploded in the years following the war. Tons of theaters needed to be repaired, and a shitload of new theaters opened up in the meantime. Japan probably had as many theaters as any similarly advanced film industry in Europe at that time. The question is whether films were simultaneously screened throughout the country on opening day, or whether films reached certain prefectures later via existing prints. That might give us a hint about how many prints were struck initially. It’s obvious, though, looking at some of these films, that they took a beating... films like Frankenstein vs. Baragon and Astro-Monster are filled with negative scratches in transfers of presumably original materials, or materials a generation away from them. The preservation materials on Ebirah and Son of Godzilla have duplicated frames, presumably as substitutes for damaged frames cut out of the negative.
I was seriously considering buying this set but after hearing they used English dubs done by Canadians in 1990 ill pass and get an earlier dvd set or wait for original english dubs to be releaed in a BD box set. I actually like the comic book style artwork on this.
Just a minor thing I want to correct -- at 54:17 I state that the low-contrast prints used for Toho's HD transfers are at most 20 years old; I think when I wrote that I was assuming that they were struck for Toho's DVD releases, which they started doing around the turn of the millennium. While I can't recall the specifics offhand, I've since gathered that they were probably used for video releases as far back as the 1980s. That's still newer than the Champion Festival dupe elements, and I think the larger point still stands, but the difference in age between these materials is apparently less dramatic than I believed when I was writing this video.
Looking forward to the future, there are a few key factors:
-The 70th anniversary of the franchise in 2024, which might see the release of a new Monsterverse film AND a new Toho Godzilla film - which would make it a much bigger year than 2019 and the 65 year anniversary.
-I think Criterion is playing for keeps with these films, or this franchise. They recently screened both The Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs Biollante, and those screenings had the Janus logo on the front. We can probably assume that Criterion's business with Godzilla has been lucrative and they want to continue beyond the Showa era.
-Classic Media first put out bare bones dub only DVD releases of 5 Godzilla Films before later putting out Collector's Editions with extras and other versions. Criterion was given a lot of freedom when they released the original film in 2012.
So I don't think we are in a case where Toho "Never ever always and forever" would allow Criterion to do more with these films.
-Toho is also slowly restoring all of the films into 4K.
-Criterion has shown in the past that they will spend years developing certain box set releases(Olympics set) and that they will "upgrade" prior releases into new formats or releases.
-Something tells me that 2024 might be an opportunity that is seized upon to get "something much more and much better" on the Criterion-Godzilla front.
-Just as Criterion's first release was only the first Godzilla film, and then that film was folded into a larger release that put all of the Showa films into a single box....maybe in 2024 we will see the Showa films folded into a release(or series of multi-volume releases) that includes more films.
-I think Sony's Heisei films licenses are sliding out of their hands. I think in 2023 the rest of them go.
-So the stars are certainly aligning for Criterion to continue to become the de-facto home for all of the vintage Godzilla Films
-I have a hope that Criterion playing nice with Toho and continuing the partnership will pay off down the road.
-I hold out hope that at SOME point(2024 would be nice) that Criterion will return to Godzilla and will hopefully take a long time and be provided enough freedom by Toho to finally give us all the releases of the films we want to see.
-4K restoration sources, US alternate versions and multiple English Dubs, more archival and new audio commentaries, perhaps multiple volumes covering the first 50 years of films
Maybe releases that could include tangential films like Rodan, Mothra and War of the Gargantuas.
Who knows...But I'm an eternal optimist. I hope that Criterion and Toho will come to an agreement that is mutually beneficial and worthwhile and ultimately gives the fans what we all want to see...which would be a line up of consistent, quality, comprehensive releases for the entire Godzilla library.
I even hope that Toho caught wind of the Arrow Gamera set and is perhaps looking to blow it away out of sheer pride and pettiness.
Interesting to see where we are.in the closing days of 2024.
So far 8 Godzilla films have been remastered in 4K and released on disc in Japan with 6 more scheduled for next year. Out of all those films, only the 54 film has been released by Criterion over here.
Sony has officially lost all distribution rights to Godzilla VS King Ghidorah and Godzilla VS Mothra. Those two films are now with Criterion and are in their streaming channel. Sony still has the other three Heisei films and all the Milennium films.
Guess we'll have to see what happens next.
@michaelrusso906 G54 in 4K is certainly better than nothing. It is progress.
We can only hope that either:
A - Criterion & Toho continue their partnership and Criterion continues to pursue Godzilla rights for future 4K releases or sets, or even standard Blu Ray releases.
B - Toho's success with handling Godzilla Minus One on their own in the US leads to them perhaps pursuing THEIR OWN releases of Godzilla films onto Blu Ray or 4K disc over here...looking to cut out the "Middle Man" of Criterion over time.
@michaelrusso906 and just like that, Godzilla vs Biollante announced for a stand alone 4K release from Criterion! With an audio commentary and bonus features of its own.
Truly a bit of a welcome surprise. Now it's time to vote with our wallets!
This is a MASSIVELY informative video that covers a ton of ground very eloquently. My copy of the set is waiting for me at my local B&N right now and I am very much looking forward to picking it up tomorrow despite the compromises. Toho‘s lack of commitment to restoring these movies is a never-ending frustration but considering I grew up with these films on VHS, I can live with soft blu-rays...for now.
I still watch this video a couple times a year. Honestly, I'd love to see you do a massive multi part video on the full history of Godzilla on physical media.
This is still the best way to watch the Showa Era movies. Hopefully Criterion can get a second try with these films so we can get the perfect collection of the original Godzilla series. And then hopefully they can get started on the Heisei Era films which should be much easier to release.
I have a hope/feeling that the Criterion-Godzilla-Toho relationship is ongoing and hopefully improving. In 2012 the original Godzilla release was comprehensive. Great HD presentation, both versions of the film, each had a commentary and copious extras.
It clearly performed well or they wouldn't have gone in for the whole Showa Era and bestowed it the coveted Spine #1000
We got 15 films, but outside of the first film it was quite bare bones. Many missing English versions, a number of missing dubs, and not the best presentations. I think Toho being difficult was only one realm of issues with the set, I think Criterion wanted to, as much as possible, perhaps test the market. It feels like a budget released by Criterion standards in many regards. Almost as if in addition to Toho being difficult, Criterion themselves was restrained and holding back.
By all accounts Spine #1000 performed very well for them in sales. Could you imagine the hype and publicity if, come 2024 for the 70th anniversary, it was revealed that Spine #1000 was getting an "upgrade" that was completely comprehensive?
Multiple versions, multiple dubs, audio commentaries, significantly improved restorations and presentations, the works. The sort of "Everything we hoped for" kind of set. It would easily be twice the cost of the original Spine #1000 but I think it would be worth every penny.
Criminally underrated video. Was not expecting so much depth of info.
Finally, a review that actually talks about the video quality of these discs, and not just the giant book! Thank you!
this was good and pretty informative. I knew how tricky the state godzilla home video has been but having it all laid out was very nice. Also I was kinda ignorant about just how bad Toho's pure hi-vision stuff was and just the nature of how they were made until now.
Toho is just like Hammer. God forbid the rest of the world gets to see their movies!
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How are you doing today? Good I hope
Is there a database for the various cuts and releases of the Showa-era Godzilla films?
Very in-depth discussion of the package and disc features, thanks! I didn’t realize some of the movies come without English dubs. This is astounding to me and goes to show how little media companies care about accessibility. I’m legally blind, so reading subtitles is very difficult. I’m considering writing to Criterion about this.
Given lack of dubs, can you point out the best releases with dubs for those movies lacking them here? In fact, it would be great to hear your preferred version for all these Showa films, since there are so many. I have this Criterion set but I guess I’m going to have to still buy additional copies so I can comfortably watch some of these movies.
@@andrewsydlik8618 Yes, I would love a video series where he discusses the best home video release for each film. From sound, picture, and edit quality.!
Is there a list of all the different media that Godzilla has been released on?
I’m just glad in the UK we are actually getting these films released on disc. They all got vhs transfers in the 90’s
Thank you for all the info in the video! Sucks that Criterion was held back from releasing these in the definitive set we all wanted but it will be nice to have them all in one set. About to go grab my set from Barnes and Noble now.
Hopefully for a 4K UHD set Toho will allow Criterion more freedom lol. Especially since I keep hearing that Toho is planning a US Headquarters in LA. Fingers Crossed!!!
Thanks for mentioning Nick Adams and it's great to hear someone else expressing his enjoyment of his role as Glenn. Nothing against Raymond Burr as Steve Martin, but Nick Adams was TONS OF FUN to watch. His charisma in that film almost made Monster Zero feel like a Western in space at times. Such a great American actor who I see died 3 years after Godzilla vs. Monster Zero was released. And he was only 36.
Excellent video, thank you for your work!
Wow my dude, you killed it in this. So much detailed information.
That was excellent, thank you very much. I was on the fence because it’s really expensive and I am only missing two of the films. I think after weighing out the good and bad I will make the investment. Again, really well done.
Best review I've seen so far for this release. So detailed and your explanations of how these films were transferred was excellent. Kudos Kyodai!
Thanks for this in-depth review of this collection. Best one I've seen yet.
Excellent review Kyodai. Very articulate, interesting and informed.
Amazingly great video man. This was extremely informative and interesting.
Absolutely one of the best if not the best review of this criterion package. Extremely well researched and invaluable for those looking to purchase this package. Congratulations!
Also a big thank you for explaining the situation that licenses have with Toho and regards to their transfers. Allow me to add a little more clarification with attitude. Back in the laser disk days there was a large laser disc store that I would go to. They would frequently have on the counter, a glossy brochure to give away which would announce upcoming releases. The guy running the store knew I love the Godzilla films and I would buy a lot of Japanese import laser disk from him. On this particular brochure, he pointed out a double page spread announcing the criterion is Ishiro Honda laser disc collection.. Six of Honda Godzilla films would be given a restoration and lavish treatment by criterion.
I waited and waited for these disc, but nothing was released. About a year later, I asked the clerk what happened to thediscs and he told me that they would not be coming out and it had to do with criterions release of the seven samurai. It seems that criterion had done an extensive restoration on this Japanese classic and in an act of goodwill they sent the results Of their restoration work to Toho. Tell her was completely offended that someone would show more care to their films than they did and canceled the release of the Godzilla discs. Yep, they were offended that someone showed more care than they did and showed them up. This kind of behavior from Toho is not a surprise.
In regards to King Kong versus Godzilla, Toho did indeed cut their negative and lost the trims. When it came time to release the film on VHS and laser disc, Toho had to utilize a faded scope, print of the film to fill in the missing footage and it looked horrible . When they re-issued the film a second time on laser disk, Toho had the tools to color correct these scenes so that they would look a little better. Period.
My understanding, the new 4K is sourced from a recently discovered print that reportedly looks terrific. Fat chance seeing anyone in the states being able to license it.
I got that OG Blu-ray for "Destroy All Monsters" that Media Blasters put out.
Amazing video to say the least I really appreciate all the work you put into it. I learned a lot about the history of releases too.
Thank you for the detailed and comprehensive video about the details leading up to this release and the release itself
Very informative. You know your stuff. Getting my box set tomorrow
Thanks for this. You’re the only one that bothered to talk about all the video details on TH-cam that I could find. Some really disappointing things about this. I was all in, but after this I think I might just be out. It’ll be painful for me to rewatch the softer transfers compared to the recent releases. Ugh. I guess I also might have finally reached my limit on how many times I can buy these films over the decades. I do think the packaging is gorgeous though.
Great video of yours again! Thanks a lot!
I know what I’m getting for Christmas.
I asked this collection for christmas, hopefully I get it cause if I do I AM GOING TO ENJOY IT!
This video was great. Love the insight segment.
This was an excellent video.
Thanks for the in-depth review! They shoulda came out with this a long time ago, i already spent alot of money buying those films over the past couple of years.
Will Criterion do this boxset for Heisei and Millennium era as well?
Jo J I so want to see that happen
I certainly hope so . The Heisei era is my favorite:
Thanks for this awesome video and all the hard work that has gone into this. Still not sure if I'm going to pick this release up, despite the current Black Friday discount.
Fascinating video about all kinds of stuff I never knew I wanted to learn. Subbed.
Bought this set but hated how they packed the discs on such narrow slots. It was impossible to remove the discs on the second page without scratching them so I had to rip the cardboard apart and take out the discs and put them in separate Blu-ray cases.
I only found out about this last night and ordered it this morning. I am disappointed that digital versions dont seem to be included. Be nice to keepsake the actual discs and display the cool book
great review. the thing i am leary about is glue from the pockets getting on the blu ray from the insertion of the discs at the factory.
Great insight about the image quality, thank you. Toho gonna Toho, I guess...
Has anyone noticed that on disc three there is a line of distortion across the bottom of the picture, just above the black bar, whenever a shot change happens? It’s does not happen with the other discs (at least so far). I have tried it on three different Blu Ray players.
Stephen Bieth Those are the actual splices between shots. Toho’s transfers have the framing opened up about as wide as possible, meaning they capture areas of the frame that probably wouldn’t have been visible when projected.
Kyodai Kino good to know, thank you very much for the info.
Perhaps because they couldn't get the 4k scan of KK v G that's why it's only a special feature?
Wow you are well informed! Thank you for the video! I actually bought this as well.
Impressive video!
So-so transfers and very few English dubs. Pretty much the only reason for me to buy this is that the 80s Toho SFX Outtakes doc is subtitled.
So we can blame Toho for ruining this? What is wrong with Toho?
Japanese pride and Japanese monopoly practices
In a nutshell, fuck the foreign market, we only cater to the Japanese market. It's been Toho's philosophy for years.
I love the art work. For me it reflects the fun of the movies... also I think it kinda goes with the current comics.
Worse than the Toho-supplied transfers is Toho's irresponsible, revisionist, cowardly dismissal of the US versions. Shame on you, Toho. Criterion is the only label that could have given the poorly preserved US versions the restorations they deserve. Toho's current, awful transfers of the Japanese versions are temporary, but their death wish for the US versions - many of which feature unique footage shot in their own studios - is forever. SHAME ON YOU, TOHO.
@bigevilworldwide1 thanks for the insights
So valuable and unique
Which US versions are you talking about? Didnt only the og gkotm and g1985 had unique footage? Unless you mean the AIP dubs.
@@planetxaudio1699 mothra vs Godzilla 64 had a scene with the us navy attacked Godzilla that's in the US version but not the japan version.
@bigevilworldwide1 Are you for real?.
Do you eat soy in your diet?
Not a fan of the packaging. Some special edition blu-rays that act more as props or display pieces make sense and I don't have a problem with, but this thing is just inconvenient. I'll never understand why companies think people want packaging that isn't going to fit in with the rest of their blu-rays. The book is nice I guess, but there's no reason it couldn't have been shrunk down and fit inside a regular blu-ray case.
Steven11788 from Blu-ray forum. Top notch video man
Great video!
Great Video, To be clear, Does Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla '74 have the english dub? I thought you said it did not but i'm just confirming. If it does not, Can we expect a recon of it? I always wanted the dubbed version on blu ray. Thanks for the great content, Subscribed!
Rich Mackey Yes, both Mechagodzilla films include the dubs!
I'm a little confused on the special features I heard something about there being 2 extra discs with plenty of supplements and the only ones being the first godzilla
All the extras from the standalone Criterion release of the original film are included on that film's disc in the new set. All the other extras are own their own disc (and that includes the japanese cut of KKvG, which is apparently considered an "extra" because of Universal and Toho's complex licensing of the US cut)
That’s cool artwork but I’d prefer pictures from the movies.
If we were to get the true versions of the movies in new HD transfers, the set would HAVE to cost over a thousand dollars as Japan's home release market is so distributor driven. I'm a long time anime collector so I'm shocked that this set was able to reach "same quality" levels with some American only bonuses... though your mileage may very on how much you value the American cuts of Godzilla and King Kong versus Godzilla. And it wouldn't surprise me to learn that Criterion was forced to combine as many movies as possible on each disc.
The saddest fact is that this set replaces very few of the "just sit down and watch" Godzilla films. I watched the Criterion version of Ghidorah and I still prefer the dubbed recut version which has a lot less of a "Waiting for Ghidorah" feel to it and has some of its logical/logistics issues regarding the professor and his "isolated" campsite removed.
I don't see why the size of the Japanese home video market would affect the price of a product created for and released in the American market. It would absolutely be more expensive than it is, but I think $1000 is a stretch. It would probably be priced more like Criterion's Bergman box set if anything.
@@KyodaiKino It's not really a matter of reverse importation, it's more like a mindset of "Japanese entertainment is strictly for Japanese consumption". By default, outside releases have to be inferior than their Japanese counterparts. Things like "locked in subtitles" and cramming as much material on a disc as possible are done to make them appear to be inferior... why are the top Godzilla sequels cluttered together on the same BD? To make the set itself less desirable to the Japanese market... to allay Japanese producers fears of Reverse Importation through intentionally releasing an inferior product.
I've been collecting anime and Japanese movies on DVD/VHS for decades and I honestly think their methodology is having foreign markets release inferior products as to reduce the possibility of reverse importation rather than combating the idea of reverse importation itself as their primary goal. People can just get Region B/Region Free players but that's not Japan's true concern. Region B releases have as much compression yet they don't have the prices of competitive Region A North American releases made by Japanese companies like Aniplex of America.
So in order to release a product superior to a Japanese region A release, it has to be more expensive than one of them. ... and since each Japanese region A movie is between 50-100 dollars, a box set of them should cost between 750 and 1500 dollars. And that's for an equal product, for one that's both better and all inclusive... I wouldn't want to think about the price. I have the Criterion set and it's amazing that it exists at all on Region A BD.
Nice Review the showa series of Godzilla films was always at it's best in my opinion. :)
So how much did you buy it for? I want to know the retail price.
Sir, any interest in reviews of tohos 4k releases?
Will Criterion be selling this box set in Japan and Europe? I hope that Criterion makes a ton of money on this box set by paying a rather low fixed price for the licensing fees and then selling a million of these boxes at $225 each. Maybe then we can get from Criterion some more of the classic Japanese sci-fi and Kaiju movies from the 1960s and 70s such as the stand alone Mothra and Rodan films, Gamera, and the war in outer space type movies with extensive use of models and miniatures.
iakona23 It does seem to be selling well, in no small part because it was released right before the Barnes & Noble sale. As for other regions, I know the UK’s getting it; don’t know about the rest of Europe. Japanese fans seem to be importing it as well.
Kyodai Kino I’m assuming that the Godzilla set is region locked, although I don’t know. But Japan and the USA Blu-ray regions are the same anyway so you can always import Japanese blu-rays, and vice-versa.
I have heard that the Criterion Ingmar Bergman box set is region-free.
Worth noting, I confirmed this morning on my copy that the scenes with english audio in the Japanese version of King Kong vs. Godzilla is out of sync.
Interesting. I only skimmed the set for this video; I didn't think to compare that with my totally legal copy of the Toho Blu-ray and see if the 4.0 was similarly out of sync. How bad is it?
@@KyodaiKino I specifically watched the sub scene and the helicopter scene and it's about a half second to full second out of sync. It's pretty noticeable. I wanna say its such a small part of the film it doesn't matter, but even a first time viewer would notice.
@@akaneskiryu4119 yeah it's present on the toho bluray as well. Not sure if it's just confined to the 4.0 mix but I know it's been a issue with the Japanese version as well for awhile.
@@gogeta492 I can confirm that the mono audio I used for my recolor of the 4k restoration has the audio perfectly in sync
@@akaneskiryu4119 ok so many just an audio issue related to the 4.0 mix then. And nice are you sourcing it from a capture of a 2019 broadcast? As I've don't light restoration on one myself to remove as much pixealtion from the broadcast copy I have being it captured at a lower bitrate.
At 15:45 he shows what's in the box.
So overall, it appears the only DVD/Blu-Rays I can safely get rid of are the original Criterion Godzilla 54 and Godzilla vs. Megalon Blu-ray? I'm trying to determine which releases become redundant with this release.
And the Universal individual release of Kong vs Godzilla.
*happy birthday you non filthy monsters.*
Great video... I’m still confused? I own multiple dvds of the Showa era... is it really worth the upgrade?
HA HA !!! My man Kyodai...I see you have, like myself, an extensive collection of Godzilla Japanese version only Blu Rays from...well from the name on the bottom which have added English subs!!! oh yeah!!! even though the PLETHORA of awesome extras are in Japanese only it is amazing what the Japanese versions give you huh??!!! even though I cannot mention the name of the "COMPANY" as I got my hand slapped 1 time for mentioning it on YT when I found this incredible website I went bonkers!!! anyways you know what I'm talking about. Nice collection my friend of VCR tapes in what looks like incredible condition. On the Japanese version of KK VS G (if you have it??) isn't the extra of Atami Castle a really cool extra or what!!! I really wished they would've English subbed the interviews. The interview with Tomoko Ai or "Katsura" as we know her from "Terror of MG" is an example . also would've been great to have the Japanese audio commentary on the movie English subbed as we can hear THEIR perspective on the movies. by the way all my comments above have nothing to do with the Criterion release.
51:14 Ugh. Must.... see... 4K... restoration...
It's available on 4K in Japan there is no English subtitles though unless if you know Japanese or know the film by heart then it will be good for you
Good shit dude
Thanks for sharing this informative guide. I do have a few questions. Do you think we will ever hear the audio commentary for the 2012 release of godzillavs biollante somehow. Do you think that criterion would pick up the heisei and millinuem movies as well and if they get Godzilla vs biollante, do you think they will pick up the commentary from lions gate Miramar?
I doubt we'll see more Godzilla from Criterion any time soon. Their approach to the licensing for this set suggests a preference for licensing directly from Toho as opposed to sublicensing from other US distributors, and Sony's rights to most of the Heisei-era films won't expire for a few years yet. Return of Godzilla should be up for grabs in 2021, but without Godzilla 1985, there's not much that Criterion could do for it that Kraken didn't, and the rest frankly don't have nearly the pop-cultural impact and relevance that the Showa films do.
I just think it would be a opportunity
Do you think we will ever get Godzilla vs biollante commentary
@@rileyroberts6003 Probably not. The commentary was commissioned by Echo Bridge; as far as I'm aware Lionsgate owns it outright. Unless they pass it along to whoever releases the film next, I don't think we'll ever hear it.
Toho should have had their own us division that handles this shit for decades
What if some of us already Completed the entire Godzilla Collection DVD & Blu ray anyway we can shelf the VHS collection , I'm Not crazy about this packaging the Book should have had old B&W movie Pics and all pictures of other Monster, like a coffee table Book and Art from Dark horse comics, those Really good covers , What would have been cool if the Disc had a Reez picture case, one of my friends still has a 1960 movie projector with Destroy All Monster Film and it has the scratch line you see in old movie , It looks so cool when he set it up on a wall , That would have been nice to have ,
four years later and still no heisei era collection, which sucks because this showa collection is the only way official way to watch godzilla here with still nothing for the heisei and millennium movies
Now We Have To Wait Another *god dam 65 years*
( 65 Years Later )
..._I lied_
Now, time for the Heisei!!
With the exception of 84 and Biollante all the Heisei and Millenium era movies are on bluray from Sony
gcell10 Kraken has released 84 on Blu Ray. But I’m sure you know that.
@@jgfear yeah, and Biollante was through Mill Creek
I'm not sure I really mind that the transfers aren't super sharp, I have a soft spot for the shitty VHS quality that I grew up with, and I often watch movies in narrow aspect ratios on CRTs anyway, which of course won't be as sharp as a modern LCD.
It’s a felt-like material, I think.
Wow you look like you live across the street where i lived most my life in Chicago
Could be! What neighborhood?
@@KyodaiKino uptown
Get to work! 😊
domestic release prints of the Showa Godzilla films would have been run off the original negative. This was still common in Japan and most of the world at this time. There is evidence in the Champion cut of Astro Monster that at least one section of the o-neg was replaced with dupe negative early on, probably to replace a damaged portion... this wasn’t uncommon.
The HV transfers of Astro-Monster and Mothra vs Godzilla actually look much WORSE than an original, domestic release print, since they were transferred from low-con prints struck from surviving internegatives of the uncut versions. They look about how the US prints would have looked.
To;dr the HV transfers do NOT look better than original release prints.
Figures I'd make a fool of myself assuming Toho would at any point take a sensible approach to handling irreplaceable film materials.
Then again, I suppose they wouldn't need as many release prints as American studios would, Japan being a smaller market, making it perhaps a slightly less reckless use of the negative.
@@KyodaiKino You’re not a fool, this is just information that is strangely poorly documented online. Wikipedia pretty much only covers the last 20 or 30 years of film lab work and duplication procedures.
Again, this wasn’t a Toho problem specifically. It was common practice throughout the world. It didn’t occur to studios to not wear the negatives out and treat their films the way they did because they didn’t have a profit motive for it. It took until video for that to happen.
I don’t know what the print runs were like in Japan at that time, but what I do know is the exhibition industry exploded in the years following the war. Tons of theaters needed to be repaired, and a shitload of new theaters opened up in the meantime. Japan probably had as many theaters as any similarly advanced film industry in Europe at that time. The question is whether films were simultaneously screened throughout the country on opening day, or whether films reached certain prefectures later via existing prints. That might give us a hint about how many prints were struck initially.
It’s obvious, though, looking at some of these films, that they took a beating... films like Frankenstein vs. Baragon and Astro-Monster are filled with negative scratches in transfers of presumably original materials, or materials a generation away from them. The preservation materials on Ebirah and Son of Godzilla have duplicated frames, presumably as substitutes for damaged frames cut out of the negative.
Nice job......but.......friend to friend.......maybe pick up your room before shooting your next vid. PEACE.
Angilas? Anguirus.
SparkZ1420 Toho? Is that you?
@@KyodaiKinoIt is I, Toho, I shall sabotage all the US releases of our movies.
Yup got it.
I was seriously considering buying this set but after hearing they used English dubs done by Canadians in 1990 ill pass and get an earlier dvd set or wait for original english dubs to be releaed in a BD box set. I actually like the comic book style artwork on this.
None of these dubs were done in 1990, and as far as I know none of them were done in Canada either.
The box set really wasn't good.😢
U look like bam margera and his da. Ha.
That's some horrible art. Really really not suitable for this box set.
All Monsters Attack's cover is really a sore to look at. But it does fit the awfulness of that movie.
Your taste in art is bad then sorry lol