Blu-ray.com



Independent studio Classic Media enters the high-definition arena with its digitally-remastered release of the original 1954 Japanese big-monster classic 'Gojira' (also known as 'Godzilla, King of the Monsters') on Blu-ray on September 22. No detailed specs were given at this time.

The disc will include both the original Japanese version and the heavily-edited US version, for which the distributors worked actor Raymond Burr in the movie, by using doubles and new footage to make it look like Burr was interacting with the Japanese cast.

Extras for this release include:
Audio commentary by Godzilla experts Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski
'The Making of the Godzilla Suit' and 'Godzilla: Story Development' featurettes
Theatrical trailers

Hopefully the rest of the Showa & Heisei era titles will follow!

One of my friends was watching this movie back in the early 70s and he convinced his grandmother that Burr was actually newscasting from Japan and all this was happening. She was really mad afterwards.

Oh hell yes! I hope this is the start of a trend to get out all of CM's kaiju titles on BD. The Showa-era films would look amazing in 1080p.

The question I've got is this....

Will the transfer of the original Japanese version of Gojira be as dark as the DVD? If so that's a problem. I had it on Laserdisc years ago and it wasn't that dark. The CM DVD had only one significant flaw, and that was it.

Hopefully they fix that and brighten the thing a bit so you can actually see what's going on - seeing the movie clearly is what Blu Ray is supposed to be all about.

This.. is.. awesome!

Will get if the reviews are good. Love the original Japanese verison.

Classic Media has screwed this release up royally. From blu-ray.com:

W. T. F. ?!?

They do realize BD has MORE capacity than SD, right? They could have easily condensed that 2-disc set into a single BD. Now I might pass on this release. Fuckers.

While both would've been best, it's still better that it just has the Japanese version instead of just having the U.S. version.

Agreed, but still...WTF? It's not like Godzilla is even a very long movie.

I read on another forum that Classic Media had access to material for the Japanese version to strike a new high-def transfer (or one was supplied to them?), but they could only get their hands on a standard definition version of the American cut. I don't know if that's related or not.

Hmm.. seems like maybe there should be an asterisk here. While it's not preferable, put Godzilla on there as a bonus feature in SD (similar to the non-anamorphic original cuts of the Star Wars trilogy). This way you could at least unload your copy of the dvd set. I'm on the fence about this, as I rarely watch Gojira even though I love it greatly. I think I'll be keeping my eye out for the films that I haven't gotten a chance to buy yet once they go high-def. I hope that Sony gets on the bandwagon soon. Some of their G dvd releases weren't as good as they could have been, so I've held off. I really would like King Kong vs. Godzilla in HD uncut with subs as well as Mechagodzilla. Let's get the HD kaiju ball rolling big time!

But they still tossed out the commentary for whatever reason, so even if they included an SD Godzilla, that wouldn't be the whole package.

Looks absolutely terrible - the transfer is interlaced and no cleanup work has been done, though the commentary track has been included.

^ WTF? Seriously, CM manages to be the one company who does Godzilla right on DVD and now they completely fuck up the inaugural Blu? It pains me to say this, being a huge Big G fan, but I'm passing.

ditto.

Just cancelled my pre-order on Amazon. Sounds like the BD will look just about the same as the 2006 Sony Wonder release, especially with the Oppo BDP-83's superb upscaling.

This is one of the reasons I lurk the HD forum here. Every time I start to feel like I should jump on the bandwagon and upgrade to Blu, I find something like this or the Justice League fiasco that reassures I'm doing just fine sticking with standard DVD.

Because they don't screw up dvd releases?

Sorry, but they mess up DVD releases all the time too. The difference between DVD and Blu-ray is dramatic, and speaking from experience there are far more positives than negatives to Blu-ray releases. The format has completely enriched my experiences of many a film so one or two disappointments shouldn't ruin the whole thing - especially when you factor in the fact that it's been that way with both formats.

Anyway, I would definitely suggest you reconsider. Especially if you already own a HDTV or purchase a large number of DVD's on a semi-regular basis. If you DON'T already own a HDTV, and make few DVD purchases, than you might as well just stick with what you have for now and wait for prices to fall. But Blu-ray is definitely the way to go.

On the note of Godzilla: this is very disappointing. I will no longer be getting this unless it goes majorly on sale (i.e. $6-8 and then I will only pick it up because I don't have a DVD edition of it. So I may be waiting a while...)

That's kinda my point: they haven't learned their lesson. Missing special features/alternate cuts from previous releases, overpriced Disney special editions, region coding, using old transfers.

I do have a 46" HDTV, just purchased a month ago (had a 30" tube HD before that for several years). I've got nearly a thousand standard DVDs, and to be honest we end up watching a lot of stuff on the 20" SD tv in the bedroom while we go to sleep.

I guess I'm just waiting for that one killer app, and I haven't seen it yet. If the Justice League releases had been properly widescreen, that might have pushed me to go Blu.

Then you haven't seen Planet Earth on BD. Once you do, it is an instant purchase IMO.

qft

I have it on Standard DVD and it's fine for us now.