I know there's several Criterion threads, but I reckon this deserves its own (click pic for edition details!).
YEAH!!!!! High-definition digital transfers of all fifteen Godzilla films made between 1954 and 1975, released together for the first time, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks. Godzilla 1954 Godzilla Raids Again 1955 King Kong vs. Godzilla 1963 Mothra vs. Godzilla 1964 Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster 1964 Invasion of Astro-Monster 1965 Ebirah, Horror of the Deep 1966 Son of Godzilla 1967 Destroy All Monsters 1968 All Monsters Attack 1969 Godzilla vs. Hedorah 1971 Godzilla vs. Gigan 1972 Godzilla vs. Megalon 1973 Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla 1974 Terror of Mechagodzilla 1975 Available October 29 2019
So much incredible art to go with it too...I want so many of them as posters. I was going to post the Geof Darrow piece, but I'm friends with Rob...so I'll post his.
Holy shitballs, indeed. Does this mean that I finally have to purchase a Blu-ray player? One giant missed opportunity - the AIP dubs (Titra/Titan/ELDA) are vastly superior to the 'international' ones included here. Rights issue, you think, or just an archival oversight? S'okay, I'll always have my custom jobbies.
Wowsers what a fantastic release for #1000. In Australia we are lucky to have the majority of the films collected in reasonably priced boxsets for their respective timelines however these releases are DVD only. I’d love to check out these blus and I’m hoping this set will be eligible for the next Barnes and Noble sale. If I have one minor critique it would be that I’m not massive on all the modern illustrations for the packaging. Perhaps they will grow on me.
Thanks for the heads up @bunnyboy. This is good shite. I’m going to pick up this set and have an epic 2-day staycation replete with choice libations.
Wowsers, good shit indeed, and news which came out of nowhere for me. What a pleasant surprise. October is indeed a very spectacular month for good things! This is just the sort of thing I have been clamouring for, for ages. A a proper release [we can hope] of all these great films, which it has been a struggle oftentimes to even get DVD versions of. Collected all together is just icing. One thing which is noticeably absent from this release information though, I have to say - and this is highly unusual for Criterion - is the information on the actual transfers, e.g. video and audio. All it mentions is "high definition transfers". I am probably being cynical, but this lack of added information or clear specifics, to me, suggests that this might actually just be a NA release of the existing Japanese BDs. Don't get me wrong, even then this represents and incredible treat and delight; I am mere suggesting that I don't think each one of these films (or possibly any, outside of the previously done '54 Godzilla) may actually be getting the 'Criterion treatment.'
You know what? I questioned this too. Was the Zaitoichi selection remastered or just pumped out from Japanese transfers? I can’t recall but I wonder if it was a similar situation due to the sheer volume of films the boxset was comprised of.
I wonder if they'll do right by Kong and make the U.S. edits a smoothy viewable option. Hopefully. Seems that Gigantis, the Fire Monster will continue to be lost to time, though. Not super keen on the colo(u)rs, but I'm pleased that m'man Ben Marra got a payday:
Wish I'd read this before placing an order in a rush but hey, at least I get to pick it up later today.
Picked it up today on sale. It's fantastic! My son and I watched King Kong vs. Godzilla right off. Looks great. I'm not going to waste my time being bugged that a lot of the illustrations are of Hesei Godzilla. The book format is amazing and getting such nice versions of all the Showa era films in one set makes me really happy.
Taking a toku cross-post opportunity - at the time of my typing this, both Target and Amazon (perhaps others) have a buy-2-get-1-free promotion on certain books and movies that the new Ultra Q and Ultraman blu-rays fall under, so it's a great opportunity to pick up the sets on the cheap (less than $15 each before tax!) by finding something similarly priced to add to the stack or doubling up on one of the sets to give as a gift.
Was pleased to see there were five other copies besides mine sitting in the pickup rack at Barnes & Noble. Not a huge store either
My set is arriving tomorrow ( I was lazy and ordered online), so I am wondering, out of 15 discs, what am I going to (re)watch first? What about the rest of you?
I think they picked a good artist for the cover but she drew the wrong Godzilla. Either nobody caught this when she started the piece or they were unwilling to let her know. For me the rest of the artwork is split down the middle. There are some excellent ones (Adams and Darrow being the standouts) but a couple of real head-scratchers. Better than nothing, I guess.