Godzilla Misconceptions You Like To Clear Up

[UltramanGoji]

Considering the main site use to state Godzilla vs. Batman and The Devil was a thing, I wouldn't exactly put too much faith in what it says, especially when the bios haven't been updated in months and all we get are food reviews instead.

But I guess we'll just agree to disagree, although I still seriously feel treating it as if it were alive undermines the whole point

Godzilla vs. Batman was a thing, though.

[Stump Feet]

What happened to its bio on the main site? I thought it was removed.

If it was a thing, my mistake, thanks for correcting me.

[KaijuCanuck]

The way Skeleturtle is moving does not at all look to me like the wind. Pretty sure he’s living, but deformed by radiation. Which fits with franchise themes and the world pretty well imo.

[UltramanGoji]

What happened to its bio on the main site? I thought it was removed.

If it was a thing, my mistake, thanks for correcting me.

It's still here.

https://www.tohokingdom.com/cutting_roo ... dzilla.htm

[Stump Feet]

Oh, so it is. I always thought it was just a silly rumor, thanks for clearing that up for me.

[BlankAccount]

Considering the main site use to state Godzilla vs. Batman and The Devil was a thing, I wouldn't exactly put too much faith in what it says, especially when the bios haven't been updated in months and all we get are food reviews instead.

But I guess we'll just agree to disagree, although I still seriously feel treating it as if it were alive undermines the whole point

Godzilla vs. Batman was a thing, though.

I mean, it was seriously being considered to be a thing, could have been a thing, but sadly it didn't become a thing.

[Stump Feet]

Godzilla vs. The Thing's a thing, I know that for sure.

[Terasawa]

Godzilla vs. The Thing's a thing, I know that for sure.

Just not a thing Toho wants you to see anymore.

[Stump Feet]

Godzilla vs. The Thing's a thing, I know that for sure.

Just not a thing Toho wants you to see anymore.

Evidently not



Aw, now I'm depressed

[LSD Jellyfish]

Not sure how true this is, but there’s evidence to support that aip did not exclusively film the sequence in Mothra vs. Godzilla for the film.



Skip to 1:20, and you can see a brief shot of the froentier missiles being launched.

[Terasawa]

Yeah, I believe it was footage shot for the film by Toho that went unused, except in AIP’s version (and all foreign released based on it).

1. I’m not aware of any evidence that Saperstein or AIP or any Hollywood players were involved during the film’s production in Japan.

2. Everyone in the Frontier Missile sequence was in Japanese movies and some of them even appear in the similar JSDF briefing scene in the Japanese version.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I read it was cut due to being “offensive” due to having American missiles hit Japanese soil. Considering this was made roughly 20 years after WW2, despite the changing climate that would make sense.

[Tamura]

Varan's original theatrical aspect ratio is approximately 2:1, not 2.35:1, and Toho has cropped and squashed the film in every SD and HD transfer to more TohoScope-like aspect ratios.

[Stump Feet]

I read it was cut due to being “offensive” due to having American missiles hit Japanese soil. Considering this was made roughly 20 years after WW2, despite the changing climate that would make sense.

I heard the effects were just unfinished

[Terasawa]

Ryfle and Godziszewski's Honda book repeats the claim that the Frontier Missile scene was shot with the international market in mind but Google Books doesn't have the Notes section so I can't check out what else they might have to say about it, including their source.

[Tamura]

This is something I never see mentioned that I think supports the theory that one scene was shot for domestic audiences, and another alternate scene was shot for international audiences featuring the missile attack: the Japanese and AIP versions feature their own, unique JSDF briefing scenes, with the latter featuring speaking roles by the American actors, or actors that are supposed to be seen as American. You can't really add the missile scene back to the Japanese version unless you cut out its version of the briefing scene. I guess it's also possible that the missile scene was the original plan, and that the briefing room scene in the Japanese version was its replacement.

[G2000]

This is something I never see mentioned that I think supports the theory that one scene was shot for domestic audiences, and another alternate scene was shot for international audiences featuring the missile attack: the Japanese and AIP versions feature their own, unique JSDF briefing scenes, with the latter featuring speaking roles by the American actors, or actors that are supposed to be seen as American. You can't really add the missile scene back to the Japanese version unless you cut out its version of the briefing scene. I guess it's also possible that the missile scene was the original plan, and that the briefing room scene in the Japanese version was its replacement.

I think the Frontier Missile scene was the original plan; aside from remembering sources that claimed as such, it seems odd for Toho to film a big SFX scene with miniatures and suits and explosions only for international audiences and not for domestic consumption. That and at that time Toho was already including scenes with western actors into their films (the US nuclear sub in King Kong vs Godzilla, the Rolisicians in Mothra, and Robert Dunham’s character in Dogora, to name a few; not to mention later films featuring Nick Adams and Russ Tamblyn).

[Terasawa]

This is something I never see mentioned that I think supports the theory that one scene was shot for domestic audiences, and another alternate scene was shot for international audiences featuring the missile attack: the Japanese and AIP versions feature their own, unique JSDF briefing scenes, with the latter featuring speaking roles by the American actors, or actors that are supposed to be seen as American. You can't really add the missile scene back to the Japanese version unless you cut out its version of the briefing scene. I guess it's also possible that the missile scene was the original plan, and that the briefing room scene in the Japanese version was its replacement.

I think the Frontier Missile scene was the original plan; aside from remembering sources that claimed as such, it seems odd for Toho to film a big SFX scene with miniatures and suits and explosions only for international audiences and not for domestic consumption. That and at that time Toho was already including scenes with western actors into their films (the US nuclear sub in King Kong vs Godzilla, the Rolisicians in Mothra, and Robert Dunham’s character in Dogora, to name a few; not to mention later films featuring Nick Adams and Russ Tamblyn).

They did just that for Frankenstein Conquers the World.

[Stump Feet]

Giant Octopus, fuck the world

[Tamura]

This is something I never see mentioned that I think supports the theory that one scene was shot for domestic audiences, and another alternate scene was shot for international audiences featuring the missile attack: the Japanese and AIP versions feature their own, unique JSDF briefing scenes, with the latter featuring speaking roles by the American actors, or actors that are supposed to be seen as American. You can't really add the missile scene back to the Japanese version unless you cut out its version of the briefing scene. I guess it's also possible that the missile scene was the original plan, and that the briefing room scene in the Japanese version was its replacement.

I think the Frontier Missile scene was the original plan; aside from remembering sources that claimed as such, it seems odd for Toho to film a big SFX scene with miniatures and suits and explosions only for international audiences and not for domestic consumption. That and at that time Toho was already including scenes with western actors into their films (the US nuclear sub in King Kong vs Godzilla, the Rolisicians in Mothra, and Robert Dunham’s character in Dogora, to name a few; not to mention later films featuring Nick Adams and Russ Tamblyn).

They did just that for Frankenstein Conquers the World.

Exactly. I would go as far as to say that none of Toho's tokusatsu films were intended solely for domestic consumption, whether or not Toho shot extra footage for international audiences, co-produced them with an American company or included western actors.

While overseas earnings for Japanese films remained around 1 to 2% of the industry's total revenues throughout this period, Toho and other companies knew as early as 1956 that their special effects spectacles had built-in overseas appeal. I'm sure the spectacles made up a significant portion of international earnings outside of areas with large Japanese immigrant populations, like Hawaii and LA, where there would have been a local Toho Theater showing the full, up to date Toho program. While these spectacles didn't always become the highest-grossing films domestically (most of these high grossers are obscure and are little more than footnotes in the western Japanese film discourse), individually these spectacles could easily pay for themselves in the international grosses. The commercial aspect is inseparable from the artistic and technical aspects of these films - they were continually informing each other.