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

[ComradeMisato]

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (The Smog Monster) from 1971 is probably the best sequel in the whole series and the only film after the original that actually aspires to be something more than camp.

Hedorah is great and underappreciated but the rest of this sentence is an aggressively cold and bad take

[barryconvex]

That was meant to be taken facetiously. I wasn't trying to be demeaning. I was trying to sarcastically call attention to how offensive such an outfit is. I could've articulated that better and I apologize to you and anyone else who may have taken offense.

[DarkImbecile]

I don't think he's referring to your (perfectly acceptable) comments on the outfit, just disagreeing that the other sequels aren't aspiring to more than camp.

[TheRanchHand]

Is everyone waiting on the B&N sale to pick it up? I have had it bought in my Amazon cart for a couple months hoping to maybe catch a freak price drop like they did with Bergman but so far just hovering around $160. I'm in no rush to get it this week so may wait til November and save around $50. Just was wondering if there is a retailer offering a more reduced price (DD seems about $10 less).

[barryconvex]

I don't think he's referring to your (perfectly acceptable) comments on the outfit, just disagreeing that the other sequels aren't aspiring to more than camp.

Yeah, I thought that comment seemed a little on the PC side but I wanted to take the high road. For the record the 70s sequels hold a special place for me-the Mechagodzilla films in particular. By this time the series knew its place and had carved out a nice pocket for itself and part of the appeal was the camp factor.

[colinr0380]

I have only just remembered on running across it again that the late lamented Super Best Friends channel did a discussion video on the classic Godzilla posters! (NSFW: Language) They get thrown a bit by some of the stylisation of the Czech posters!

[Orlac]

My set just arrived from Diabolik. The packaging is horrendous - took me 10min to get the discs out, leaving me with rather sore fingers!

[Orlac]

Took a look at some of the transfers.

No image or sound complaints with INVASION OF THE ASTRO MONSTERS, EBIRAH and TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA

I'm pleased to report the sound levels are now correct for the Japanese mono track of EBIRAH, which was not the case on the Tristar and Kraken releases, with the dialogue being drowned out by the music.

MEGALON - On the Criterion, as with the Media Blasters release of Megalon, but not the older Toho DVD, this bizzare cropping happens - Godzilla vs. Megalon - "Dirty Harry" Stand Off Comparison - YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssGb8Hf6_tw

KING KONG VS. GODZILLA (Japanese version) - Sadly, besides being the 2008 transfer (mostly film but a tiny portion is from the old, old video master), the only audio track is the badly mixed 4.0 one from the old Toho DVD. There are times when dialogue and sound effects are badly muted or missing althogether. Andrew Hughes' line "Gojira!" in the sub (which was post-dubbed, I believe) is totally gone. The Toho BD had a decent mono track which didn't have these issues.

I think the sound issues with KKvG are worth notifying Criterion about, because let's say they get the rights to the new 4k master in a few years, they should use the better sounding audio track.

[HitchcockLang]

My set just arrived from Diabolik. The packaging is horrendous - took me 10min to get the discs out, leaving me with rather sore fingers!

Interesting. I found the discs came out easily, particularly thanks to the notches over the holes in the center of the discs. I found it to be a major improvement over the Bergman box with which I do struggle for several minutes to get a disc out. When I noted this months ago though, I seemed to be the only one having that much trouble so I am definitely not discounting your issue with the Godzilla set, but rather I am beginning to think all of these boxes are not created equal.

[ComradeMisato]

My set just arrived from Diabolik. The packaging is horrendous - took me 10min to get the discs out, leaving me with rather sore fingers!

Interesting. I found the discs came out easily, particularly thanks to the notches over the holes in the center of the discs. I found it to be a major improvement over the Bergman box with which I do struggle for several minutes to get a disc out. When I noted this months ago though, I seemed to be the only one having that much trouble so I am definitely not discounting your issue with the Godzilla set, but rather I am beginning to think all of these boxes are not created equal.

The sleeves aren't ideal, but they're not too difficult to get the discs out, especially with that smooth inner surface. The easiest thing is to get your thumbnail under the outside edge, then pull it out using another finger in the center.

At least it's not one of those smaller book-format sets like the Battle Royale collection or the Mad Men complete series. Those are awful.

[tenia]

I too found the disc easy to take out on the copy I saw.

[ComradeMisato]

So I decided to make a video about the set and the runtime got a little out of hand

[TheRanchHand]

Well, Amazon matched B&N so if you prefer their service, now is the time. I ordered mine last night from Barnes so may get it a few days later but happy to get the 50% off...

[Calvin]

The set has been confirmed Region A locked, so anyone else from the UK that might be tempted to import as the cheaper option ... no dice.

[swo17]

Well, Amazon matched B&N so if you prefer their service, now is the time. I ordered mine last night from Barnes so may get it a few days later but happy to get the 50% off...

Amazon has a coupon for an extra $2.50 off

[headacheboy]

I picked this up at Barnes today for 50% off (and having a membership card gets an additional $11.25 knocked off for a grand total of $101.25) and I've been going through the discs seeing what bonus features are available. I didn't realize that the bulk of the bonus features are found on Disc 8. The biggest surprise on that Supplements disc was finding the Japanese version of King Kong Vs Godzilla. I hadn't read anywhere that that was making an appearance as a bonus feature.

(And by the way, I've never had that 10% off work when I use their mail-order. The only way it ever seems to work is by going in and physically buying something.)

[Zorn]

Wow, Godzilla vs Gigan is incredibly terrible on its own (lack of merits) but also terrible even relative to the other films in the series, at one point, they put two Barbie dolls in a medium shot in one of the fake buildings being destroyed as though that were the same as human extras. Glad TCM aired it, because I was quite curious about the films not on the channel.

I think the dolls are meant to be statues or mannequins. The films were noticeably avoiding human extras deaths by that point - the brutal Godzilla vs Hedorah excepted.

This is correct. As poor as the Gigan film can be with the budget, they never stooped that low to disguise Barbie-esque dolls as humans where it's so blatantly obvious. The dolls are meant to represent mannequins in the store front.

The only other exception to Hedorah and the avoidance of human extras deaths might actually be Terror of Mechagodzilla with the two teenagers sneaking away from the evacuation group to look at Titanosaurus only to possibly be stomped to death by the object of their curiosity. It's not explicit and can be interpreted either way.

[Orlac]

Megalon is rather brutal with the Seatopian agents - but they're bad guys so it's alright then.

Often the "everyone has evacuated" line is to avoid implying people are getting killed, or to save money.

[Zorn]

Megalon is rather brutal with the Seatopian agents - but they're bad guys so it's alright then.

Often the "everyone has evacuated" line is to avoid implying people are getting killed, or to save money.

Their deaths ended up getting cut in later US releases. The boulder falling on one of them was apparently too much for people as was part of the scene where they kidnap the kid. I remember my old VHS copy would have the sound of the removed bit of the kidnapped scene continue just a bit into the next scene. It was odd. They also removed a scene with the two truck drivers where you can see the nude woman poster quite clearly behind them.

[barryconvex]

I too found the disc easy to take out on the copy I saw.

I had no problems removing the discs, my bigger problem is the size of the book. It's too tall for any shelf I own by a couple inches. I have no idea where I'm supposed to keep this.

[tenia]

It's absolutely hugely over-sized. I can't see keeping one in my video shelves, the only suitable place for it would be along my French "comic books".

[dmarvin]

CF3 Podcast is giving away a copy of this via random drawing on December 16th. The only requirement to enter is to message CF3 with proof (screenshot) that you've subscribed to the podcast on your podcast app of choice. Pretty easy but just 'difficult' enough a task to ensure that the entry pool will be on the smaller side (and odds of winning pretty decent): https://www.facebook.com/CF3pod/posts/2512627825661275

[Close The Door, Raymond]

I picked this up at Barnes today for 50% off (and having a membership card gets an additional $11.25 knocked off for a grand total of $101.25) and I've been going through the discs seeing what bonus features are available. I didn't realize that the bulk of the bonus features are found on Disc 8. The biggest surprise on that Supplements disc was finding the Japanese version of King Kong Vs Godzilla. I hadn't read anywhere that that was making an appearance as a bonus feature.

(And by the way, I've never had that 10% off work when I use their mail-order. The only way it ever seems to work is by going in and physically buying something.)

The B&N membership stopped giving the 10 percent discount for online purchases a few years ago. I wish they would re-consider bringing it back. I used to buy a lot back then.

[Calvin]

As of week ending November 10th, this had sold 41,301 units.

[kidc]

As of week ending November 10th, this had sold 41,301 units.

That's interesting. Do we know numbers for other recent releases?