Toho's George Lucas Tendencies

[Terasawa]

I don’t think many fans understand the magnitude of the situation. Film does not survive long if it’s not taken care of, and as long as Toho continues to ignore and neglect alternate versions of its films (especially those made by foreign companies), the more at risk these things are of being lost forever.

Or, their future is compromised because all we have are video tapes.

[Tamura]

If me merely posting a list of reasons to defend a specific kind of media's existence (something that never has to be done with the Japanese versions) is considered obnoxious or dramatic, then I don't really see any hope for organized preservation efforts like other fandoms have been successfully doing. Someone's got to be passionate in order to entice and prime others for important work.

And I've said this before but I'll just say it one more time: if Toho were radical enough to, I don't know, allow distributors to seek elements for their own countries' versions, or if Toho sought international material themselves, they would surely turn up material that is better than their own elements. The US version of Monster Zero appeared to be edited on a first generation material. The original negative is incomplete, and Toho's best uncut material is a shitty dupe. Therefore, if the original, edited US material still exists, it could be the best surviving element of the film. Finding and preserving US versions helps the films out, in general. Not doing this may not be apocalyptic, but it won't help.

[UltramanGoji]

If me merely posting a list of reasons to defend a specific kind of media's existence (something that never has to be done with the Japanese versions) is considered obnoxious or dramatic,

No, you using phrases like "calculated erasure" and acting like T-shirt designs are evidence of some draconian bureaucracy conspiracy is what's obnoxious.

Let me say that I agree with your points entirely. It's just the way you act about the whole ordeal that can turn some people away. Stuff like wishing for Toho's bankruptcy and the stuff I mentioned above, you look more insane than you do passionate.

No, fan preservations aren't really a substitute for official acknowledgement. But the fact that so many exist and are not horribly slopped together is a good thing. They will exist in some form, just not official. It's like the Star Wars Theatrical OT situation. Those are likely never going to be released on home media officially in any other format again, but the fans keep them alive and in possibly greater quality than Lucas/Disney ever could. They will survive.

Does that mean we should stop trying? Hell no. But we needn't be life-or-death with this situation.

[Tamura]

Stuff like wishing for Toho's bankruptcy and the stuff I mentioned above, you look more insane than you do passionate.

If this did happen it would likely be a total clusterfuck and somehow do more harm to the physical film than anything else. I just mean it in a jokey sort of way as a sarcastic and absurd solution to the problem this thread presents, because Toho's bureaucracy is the main obstacle in every US video release situation... replace Toho with any other licensor, or no licensor at all, and this thread probably wouldn't exist. But if it wouldn't do to say things like that, I'll stop... I don't want to alienate people. Seeing the replacement designs on those t-shirts as some bureaucratic conspiracy is probably a stretch. I'm open to thread name changes that accurately reflect the unfortunate situation the US versions are in.