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Article:
7
Date: 5/18/08
Year: 1975
 |
Terror
of Mechagodzilla (1975) |
Company:
Paramount Home Video (1989)
Country: United States
Category: Slip Cover |
| This
was an early Paramount release of Terror
of Mechagodzilla (1975). The box art here
is more faithful to the movie than their later version:
Godzilla charges Mechagodzilla, spines glowing; Mechagodzilla
fires his eye lasers and a missile; Titanosaurus (absent
from the box art of later releases) roars while forming
a hurricane in the background; finally, a devastated
city, an exploding building, and a group of UFOs pad
out the rest of the scene. The synopsis on the back
is the same as the 1995 release, and above the blurb,
a still of Godzilla facing off against the terrible
duo: Mechagodzilla and Titanosaurus, is present. |
|
 |
Terror
of Mechagodzilla (1975) |
Company:
Vision Film Distribution Company (1992)
Country:
Poland
Category: Clam Shell |
A
composite shot of Titanosaurus and Mechagodzilla
grace the front cover of this release, although
curiously, the film's archosaurian protagonist is
nowhere to be seen! Only on the back does Godzilla
appear, in a publicity shot with Mechagodzilla and
Titanosaurus. This publicity photo does pose a bit
of a posing problem, however. Due to the way they're
all standing, it looks as though Titanosaurus is
the antagonist while Mechagodzilla has joined sides
with Godzilla! The blurb text is very revealing,
with spoilers including (but not limited to) who
won the battle. The color scheme for this release
is very appealing, especially with the vibrant color
explosion in the background. Overall, it's another
nice entry from Vision.
|
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Terror
of Mechagodzilla (1975) |
Company:
Paramount/Gateway (1995)
Country: United States
Category: Slip Cover
|
The
Paramount releases of the Godzilla films, at least
from every one I've seen, all had a distinctive design
ethos. All of them had the same pseudo-Asian title
font pasted over original art on the front cover.
The cover art was usually designed after one of the
original movie posters, and featured a bunch of competently-executed
portraits of actors (often from a different movie)
crowding along the bottom, a red banner with the words
"Special Home Video Version" slashed across
their chests. On the opposite side one can expect
a single screenshot from the movie and a synopsis
of sorts written into a giant red ball on a white
background, thus recreating the Japanese flag on the
back of the box. In every example I have seen, the
synopsis is written in a very informal, intentionally
(if not always successfully) humorous fashion. Terror
of Mechagodzilla (1975) is no exception.
In this case, the artwork on the front was based off
a familiar poster—for Godzilla
vs. Mechagodzilla (1974), featuring both
Anguirus and King Caesar, who had their part in the
previous film, but not in this one. The actors featured
along the bottom are also from the previous movie,
certainly not from this one, but at least the artwork
captures their likenesses well—especially the
painting of Korean actress Beru-Bera Lin as Princess
Nami. As for the kaiju art, it's fairly well-rendered,
although Mechagodzilla here looks to have real eyes
(complete with irises and pupils), and Godzilla is
wearing lipstick ala the Imperial Godzilla toys from
the 1980s.
The plot synopsis is expectedly goofy along the lines
of the other Paramount releases, and includes several
questionable plot details, such as the assertion that
the aliens are "ogres," and that Katsura
is "an evil bionic woman with X-ray eyes."
To call Katsura evil seems a bit of a stretch, although
understandable, but I don't remember her possessing
X-ray vision. The jovial tone of voice employed in
the synopsis is silly, but in this case it's fairly
fitting, especially given the wacky plots of the later
Showa Godzilla offerings. The most demeaning thing
the author has to say is that Terror
of Mechagodzilla (1975) is campy, which is
true enough, particularly of the American version. |
|
 |
Terror
of Mechagodzilla (1975) |
Company:
Manga Home Video (1998)
Country: Spain
Category: Clam Shell |
| For
some reason, Godzilla's face from The
Return of Godzilla (1984) is seen on the
front cover while a tagline states the film to be
"One of the movies that inspired Roland Emmerich's
superproduction: GODZILLA", in a clear attempt
to cash in with the mentioned movie. The background
on the rear cover has a still of Godzilla from Godzilla
vs. King Ghidorah (1991), along with a summary
and some stills. The only real mistake in the otherwise
accurate synopsis is the claim that Mafune is forced
to rebuild Mechagodzilla by the aliens (he instead
cooperates because they had saved his daughter's life).
As usual with these releases, the film is presented
in its original aspect radio and remains uncut, even
though it features quite the pain-inducing dubbing. |
|
 |
Terror
of Mechagodzilla (1975) |
Company:
Simitar Entertainment, Inc. (1998)
Country: United States
Category: Slip Cover |
| One
of two nearly simultaneous releases by Simitar of
Terror
of Mechagodzilla (1975) in 1998, this marginally
less expensive version bears very few differences
from its theoretically higher-quality, "Digitally
Remastered" counterpart. The front is similar,
except the artwork is smaller and doesn't continue
onto the side panels. The sections of the cover devoid
of text and visuals are a basic black, only a minor
difference from the high contrast flesh pattern that
envelops the dark areas of the other release. The
featured stills and blurb are exactly the same, as
well. It should be noted that this version doesn't
boast bonus materials like the other, such as the
"Video Art Gallery" and "Godzilla Trailer
Collection"; also missing is the claim that the
footage is "Recorded on Class A Tape in SP for
the finest quality". Whether or not there is
a significant difference in picture or sound quality
is still up in the air, as complaints about the remastered
version appear almost identical with those of this
release. |
|
 |
Terror
of Mechagodzilla (1975) |
Company:
Simitar Entertainment, Inc. (1998)
Country: United States
Category: Slip Cover
- DIGITALLY REMASTERED EDITION
- |
| Once
again, Simitar graces this release with an atrocious
illustration. This time, a fire-spitting Godzilla
grapples with an odd caricature of Mechagodzilla.
Mechagodzilla sports crimson eyes and looks like a
strange amalgam of the Showa and Heisei counterparts,
mixed with some generic Transfomers toy. The cover
totes the video as "digitally remastered",
but time has not been kind to the quality of the footage.
The contrast and brightness have withered and now
the film shows either extremely bright scenes during
daylight or opaque darkness during night scenes, making
many shots completely indistinguishable from one another.
For the most part, the synopsis detailed on the
back of the cover is correct except for some profound
errors. One, Mechagodzilla is described as being
400-foot tall (a commonplace Western Godzilla stereotype);
and two, Doctor Mafune is now referred to as "Professor
Mafuni". Aside from these errors, the layout
is quite nice, boasting images from the film itself
along with an appropriate description. One thing
to note is that this video contains "bonus"
features such as homemade trailers for other Simitar
Entertainment Godzilla releases and a montage of
the various Simitar video art for the Godzilla films
backed-up by a repeated track of Godzilla's roars
and sound effects from previous films. |
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