Classic Media's GOJIRA 2-disc set

[Jet Jaguar]

Classic Media's GOJIRA 2-disc set comes to stores September 5th!!
Why...thats TODAYY!

A great day for G-Fandom!!

[Goji Son]

I just bought my copy and it's glorious, great essay booklet attached and the cover is much better when seen in person. In all, this is a terrific effort done by Classic Media!

[Jet Jaguar]

Originally Posted by Goji Son

I just bought my copy and it's glorious, great essay booklet attached and the cover is much better when seen in person. In all, this is a terrific effort done by Classic Media!

Wow....
Ever see a Robot drool?

[Goji Son]

Originally Posted by Jet Jaguar

Wow....
Ever see a Robot drool?

I nearly jumped for joy in Best Buy when I found it, it was hiding in the new release section. Had the re-distributed 2 disc edition of Seven Samurai been right next to it I would have probably peed my pants.

[EternalMothra]

Hopefully maybe for Christmas I can get this.

[S.R.Penny]

I don't know why, but godzilla dvd's are very hard to find in Atlantic Canada. We get every thing else, why don't we get godzilla.
I had to order mine from amazon, and it won't be in for a few weeks. You people are lucky.


There is a very nice "non-fan" dvd review at DVDTown.com. They gave Gojira eight stars out of ten and KOTM six (only a handfull of the fiilms they review make it to seven). http://www.dvdtown.com/review/gojira/19908/3925/

[kritaya]

The commentary track on "Gojira" is wonderful. They pointed out a lot of stuff that I never noticed before, giving me an added appreciation for the SPFX. I can hardly wait for the crown jewels of Godzilla's golden age, GvM, GtTHM, and Monster Zero.

[Jet Jaguar]

Unfortunately for myself, I cannot get my copy JUST yet, due to family monetary commitments ("Bills" to the uninitiated)
But it will be mine
Oh yes
It WILL be mine.....

[kent]

Called my local Best Buy after work and the guy on the other line said that they didn't have it yet and to try back tomorrow (or today really). Don't go into class until about 1:30 this afternoon and probably call them right before I go to class and hope they have it. I was SO looking forward to getting it today but the guy said they have quite a bit of DVDs coming in today so hopefully it will be in. But there is another Best Buy and an FYE so I am going to try those two if the closest one doesn't have it. I hope they get it in today!

[Zilla]

Originally Posted by EternalMothra

Hopefully maybe for Christmas I can get this.

Why wait? Its only $20

[Enshohma]

http://dvd.ign.com/articles/728/728289p1.html

IGN has its review up for the two disc set in the above link.

I grabbed my copy, which was in bulk at Best Buy's new relases section, yesterday. However it may be until Friday when I can watch them, since I have a work load of commisioned art and kaiju-related trades going on.

Can't belive I'm shelling out Gojira for Croker, Magical Frog Girl and American Beetle, LOL!

Share my thoughts on the set later and hope you all find it okay and enjoy them as well.

[Godzilla40000]

got mine yesturday. It's the best region1 DVD godzilla release yet! The picture has some grain and age on it, but still looks good. The speceal features are very well done. I highly recomend this set.

[kent]

Actually picked mine up at Super Target right after class today. Paid only $15 for it and I must say that, after watching the PURE Japanese version, it certainly makes the Americanization look like a classic 50s monster-on-the-loose film. While I wish the film was dubbed because I don't find myself paying much attention to the film itself with having to read the subtitles, the movie was very touching and it had a true message behind it that the Americanization just BRIEFLY mentioned.
I liked how the film started out with action! It kept me glued right from the start. But it seemed to get a little slow in some parts but that could have been due to me not getting enough sleep today. Although the beginning didn't seem to capture quite the emotion that the second half of the film did. Maybe there should have been a few extra scenes added in to do this perhaps. The emotion in the latter part of the film did grab me and it was something that I wish the Americanization didn't leave out. The part where Serizawa is telling Ogata and Emiko about how he doesn't want to use the Oxygen Destroyer and was afraid of it being used as an actual weapon was one of the most touching pieces of cinema I've seen. The actual ending where Yamane pays respect to Serizawa and then talks about the troubles of nuclear weaponry was also timeless! It just had such raw emotion that, even though I was reading what he said instead of hearing it in a dialect that I could understand, it made me feel saddened by the events of what happened in the film and what happened to Japan (despite what they did to other neighboring countries).
All in all, I loved it! I can easily see now why this is one of Japan's greatest films and why it is one, if not the, best monster film of all time. Very few monster films have been able to capture the emotion that should go with them. Some of the very first Universal monster films come to mind but even out of them, I can only think of one that can come close to delivering such an effective message on a topic and that is 1933's Frankenstein.
This easily gets five stars out of me.

[Bruticus]

I have to wait two weeks; the DVD won't be released in Canada until September 19th. Luckily I have the new Blind Guardian album to tide me over until then.

[Zilla]

My bootleg copy has better picture quality than this release. Which I cannot figure out. Its grainy with dots and thin lines running through the picture. I just put in my bootleg and the picture is crystal clear. What gives????

[Orga777]

I will pick this up as soon as I am able. I want to see the undubbed movie big time.

[Burkion]

Getting it TODAY! WOO!

[Gfantheheroman]

I got my copy in the mail on the 5th. Uncut Gojira is GREAT! The whole set is awesome. It would be perfect, if Gojira's picture was a bit better. Aside from that, the extra's are cool.

[Mecha74]

Picked mine up the morning of the day it came out, but just got around to watching it. Like Kent already said, the Japanese version doesn't waste any time getting the ball rolling and gives far more insight to various characters that get shaved time in the American version. But rather than choose one or the other or ostracize the American version I would like to think of them as a far more interesting whole in two pieces. One story, told from two different perspectives, and IMHO, they both work quite well. And the bonus features are a precious bonus, one that we usually don't have the luxury of having with older films from the golden era of science fiction and are very much welcome in this set. As a combined whole there is no question in my mind that this DVD set is superb.

[anguirus55]

I got my DVD.

And it's wonderful.

Sniff.

[Zilla]

I dont know why everyone is so excited about, saying how wonderful the release is. The picture quality is freaking horrible. Looks like Toho gave Classic Media a scratched up print. While their own version Region 2 disc is clear. I hope future Godzilla releases wont look like this crap!!!

[rodanguirus]

In addition to the quality of the DVD itself, I'd like to add that it's apparently selling great, at least around my area. I had to go though 7 stores to find one that still had it in stock, and even they had to get a copy out of the store room.

[Burkion]

Mine was the last one on the rack.

Last. One.

**** YES!


Also, the Original gets points in everything BUT two things;

American steals their two points with two lines that rock hard: "Well then, you have your fears, which may become reality, and you have Godzilla, which IS reality."

And the, "A great menace was gone...but so was a great man. But now, the whole world could rise up and live again!"

[kpa]

Originally Posted by Zilla

I dont know why everyone is so excited about, saying how wonderful the release is. The picture quality is freaking horrible. Looks like Toho gave Classic Media a scratched up print. While their own version Region 2 disc is clear. I hope future Godzilla releases wont look like this crap!!!

From Classic Media's website: "Gojira is over 50 years old, and a half century of wear and tear has left some dirt, marks, and scratches on the film. To present the film in the highest possible quality, Classic Media’s DVD features a Native High Definition master from a brand-new 35mm Fine Grain Print struck by Toho. The print was transferred to HD on the state-of-the-art, full resolution, Dual Link Da Vinci Color Correct System. The end result will be the best DVD presentation of the film to date."

The scratches, flecks, etc are on Toho's negative for GODZILLA. When GODZILLA was first made Toho did not put a lot of effort into preserving the original materials and they've never done a restoration of the film. A few years back Koichi Kawakita (special effects director for the Heisei Godzilla films) requested that GODZILLA and THE MYSTERIANS be restored for the Japanese R2 DVDs and Toho refused. If Toho's not going to do a restoration for their own DVDs, they're certainly not going to do it for a foreign release.

In 2004, Bruce Goldstein (head of Rialto Pictures and the man in charge of GODZILLA's 50th anniversary theatrical release) said this about Toho's materials for GODZILLA: "It's not the greatest print I've ever shown. It's an old negative. I asked Masa [Toho international sales manager Masaharu Ina], "are you sure it's OK?" And he said, "It's the same negative we've been printing off of for 50 years." Maybe that's a bad thing. [laughs] "

For the GOJIRA DVD, Classic Media made the most of the materials Toho had, and the result looks as good or better than Toho's R2 DVD, Madman's R4 Australian DVD, Rialto's US theatrical release, and BFI's R2 British DVD. There won't be any radical improvements until Toho gives the film a thorough restoration, and I doubt that will be happening in the near future.

[Gorjirus]

Got my copy at Best Buy today. It was the 2nd to last copy. (Which makes me wonder who else in the area bought it?)