Article: 10
Date: 9/23/10
Last Update: 2/11/11

        Edits, additions and replacements. Toho's large catalogue of films have sometimes been released untouched for the international markets, and other times have been hacked up almost beyond recognition. This article focuses on the rarely talked about musical component of this process, and looks to cite where music was inserted into a Toho film from an outside source when brought overseas.

Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

When Paul Schriebman re-edited Godzilla Raids Again as Gigantis the Fire Monster for its US release, much of Masaru Sato's score was replaced with music from various American B movies of the 1950's. Many of these cues originated from the 1957 giant robot film Kronos, and were composed by Paul Sawtell and Ben Shefter. The theme song for the omonimous robot is frequently heard in Gigantis the Fire Monster, underscoring most of the battle between the creatures. The score for Kronos was released in its entirety in 1984 as an LP (CLP-1001) by Cacophonic. The tracks as they appear in the film are: #1 The "Main Title" serving this very same function in Gigantis the Fire Monster #15 "Power Resources", when Godzilla and Anguirus are first spotted on Iwato Island, and during Dr. Yamane's lecture about the "Fire monsters". The cue then fades to: #16 "Attack on Kronos", which pops up just as stock footage from Godzilla (1954) does #19 "The Bomb Part 2", when Godzilla makes his landing on Osaka #21 "Kronos on Rampage", as Godzilla and Anguirus finish their battle #22 "Kronos Attacked", for the prologue scenes and later when Kobayashi's engine goes out of order

Additional information and clarification provided by Ethan

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

When AIP picked up the rights to the 1971 movie Godzilla vs. Hedorah, they opted to produce their own version for the US market. Retitled Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster, this version of the movie was more or less faithful to the original with minor changes committed. One of the more glaring alterations, especially compared to the International version, is the addition of a new song: "Save the Earth". Replacing Mari Keiko's "Give Back the Sun!", although using the same background music, the new piece was created by artist Adryan Russ with lyric writing help from Guy Hemric. Much like "Give Back the Sun!", it is used three times in the film: the introduction, at the nightclub and after Hedorah is defeated. Unlike its Japanese counterpart, there is only one version and no male chorus alternate as was used at the end of the film. In terms of release, the song can be found as an easter egg on the CD Everyone Has a Story: The Songs of Adryan Russ (LMLCD-133).

The Return of Godzilla (1984)

For Godzilla's return to the big screen, New World Pictures opted to go create a version of the film that harked back to the Americanization of the original Godzilla (1954) as Godzilla King of the Monsters. This new version of The Return of Godzilla, titled Godzilla 1985, also underwent heavy editing. Scenes were added and removed, and to supplement this new music was also added. For the task of fleshing out the musical score, New World Pictures turned to composer Christopher Young, who in his later years would score productions such as Spider-man 3. Rather than conducting new music, they opted to use Young's haunting score for the Canadian movie Def-Con 4. This soundtrack was also made available in 1990 on CD by Intrada (MAF-7010D), although is rare to come by today. In terms of execution, thankfully composer Reijiro Koroku's music was left mostly unscathed for the sequences that were left in the movie. The "new" music instead was used to replace the end song, fill in silence, and to accompany new scenes. Below is a complete rundown of these changes, which use the track titles from the CD release: - During the scene where Steven Martin uncovers his eyes and a small dragon idol is seen the theme "Ghost Planet" is used - "A Message from Home" is heard when reporter Goro Maki is looking through the Yahata Maru before finding the first victim of the Shockirus - Leading up to Godzilla's attack on the Soviet submarine, the "Armageddon" theme is heard - "I Can't Go On" is heard during the rigging of Mt. Mihara - "The Juggernaut" is then used for the evacuation scenes before Godzilla arrives in Tokyo - After the button is pressed for the nuclear missile, the theme "Defense Condition" is used - As Hiroshi Okumura attempts to get into the rescue helicopter, a theme from Def-Con 4 is used when Howe runs into a camp of cannibals in the forest [unreleased theme] - The end credits got a new musical sequence that edits together the High Rise Tension, Super-X and Self Defense Force themes from the film with Young's "The Liberation of Fort Liswell"

Additional information and clarification provided by Ethan and Baradagi

Ponyo (2008)

When Disney released Ponyo in the Western Market, they chose to capitalize on the successes of their pop stars Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers by casting their younger siblings, Noah Cyrus and Frankie Jonas, in the film. Due to the original version featuring a song sung by the leads, Disney translated the lyrics to English and had their leads sing the song using the same backing, not unlike Godzilla vs. Hedorah's "Save the Earth". Disney also created a remix of the song with some different lyrics, which follows the dubbed version of the song in their version of the film's end credits. Both Disney's version and the remix are included in a single available for purchase on iTunes. For the movie's Italian release in 2009, this song was also redone by distributor Lucky Red. Like the US version, this song replaces the Japanese lyrics with ones in Italian by the leads for this dubbed version. Also like the one created by Disney, this song was uploaded to iTunes for resale.

Additional information and clarification provided by Daniel Short