Toho Kingdom

Yeah, I'd compare it with the actual encode of the 720p version. There's always going to be a degree of artifacting on that footage but it shouldn't be any worse than what's present on the existing version.

And the first pass is done! Now the next step is touching up and adjusting those patches over the Japanese text, and then adding the recreated theatrical subtitles and applying a layer of grain to the entire project.

Cool, I am excited to see the new version!

A couple of the revisions I've made so far

omgitsgodzilla wrote:A couple of the revisions I've made so far

This is killer, omgitsgodzilla. I really loved that I helped contribute to this amazing project and the way the letters blurred into the movie frame feels like it was burned in there like the Monsters HD recording.

I don't know if any of you have seen the original optical subtitles (I think the only place you can see them is on the Australian VHS) but the kerning is really fucking dreadful

omgitsgodzilla wrote:I don't know if any of you have seen the original optical subtitles (I think the only place you can see them is on the Australian VHS) but the kerning is really skreeonking dreadful

That does look terrible. Can't believe it got through editors by being like that.

Bigdog wrote:

omgitsgodzilla wrote:I don't know if any of you have seen the original optical subtitles (I think the only place you can see them is on the Australian VHS) but the kerning is really skreeonking dreadful

That does look terrible. Can't believe it got through editors by being like that.

Luckily the subtitles themselves are pretty small, so that plus the slight blur I added to make the recreated subs look less digital makes it a little less noticeable.

Here's the Russian sub scene with the new subtitles: https://vimeo.com/192209204

(I had to upload it to Vimeo because Toho flagged it on YouTube.)

omgitsgodzilla wrote:

Bigdog wrote:

omgitsgodzilla wrote:I don't know if any of you have seen the original optical subtitles (I think the only place you can see them is on the Australian VHS) but the kerning is really skreeonking dreadful

That does look terrible. Can't believe it got through editors by being like that.

Luckily the subtitles themselves are pretty small, so that plus the slight blur I added to make the recreated subs look less digital makes it a little less noticeable.

Here's the Russian sub scene with the new subtitles: https://vimeo.com/192209204

(I had to upload it to Vimeo because Toho flagged it on YouTube.)

I had to look up the term kerning since I never heard of it before, so I thought you meant the original VHS's terrible spacing between the exclamation mark and the last word on the title. I still will consider the VHS's kerning to be indeed terrible.

I don't mind that the subtitles don't blend in because I'm accustomed to digital subtitles anyways, but your attempt to fake it has been stellar.

Well, the subtitles are done, which means the 1080p version is basically finished! All I really have left to do is to adjust the grain to the right level (I’m rendering a test right now), then I’ll probably render the mp4 version overnight!

(I’ll be making an MKV version of this as well, but I might not get around to it for a few more days since I’ll be needing my laptop for finals and such in the meantime, and trying to do stuff while also rendering Blu-ray quality video tends to make it crash)

Thank you again for all of the effort you've put into this, it's extremely appreciated.

It's so great to see the sub scene in full HD. It really is weird that the subtitles were done with such wonky kerning, but I'm glad you kept that in.

Yeah, my guess is the subs were typeset by hand and done hastily by some low-level New World employee and they just didn't really care.

This sounds extremely cool, can't wait to see the finished product. On a side note, when you said "kerning" I didn't know what that meant, so I thought you were referring to the quality of the VHS tape, but now I know. Well, both the quality of the VHS and spacing are pretty poor.

Servanov wrote:This sounds extremely cool, can't wait to see the finished product. On a side note, when you said "kerning" I didn't know what that meant, so I thought you were referring to the quality of the VHS tape, but now I know. Well, both the quality of the VHS and spacing are pretty poor.

True; VHS is VHS after all. At least it's better than the US tape in some respects.

Anyway, I had this rendering the other night, but I had to stop it because I needed Vegas for a class project. Started it up again last night; it's at 77% right now with an estimated 3 hours and 20 minutes left.

Added in 4 hours 43 minutes 23 seconds:
Well, fuck.



Looks like I messed up the keyframes in this shot that was flipped horizontally in the US version, so I'm gonna have to go back, fix it and re-render the whole thing.

On the bright side, though, this gives me the opportunity to tweak a couple of patches that weren't quite right, so there's that. (I also forgot to tint some of the shots in the scene with Godzilla and the bum, so I can go back and do that too.)

Added in 1 hour 32 minutes 40 seconds:


Just did these shots; I was able to get them pretty close to the US tape's colors surprisingly easily.

The 1080p version is now uploaded and available! There's just the MP4 version right now, but I'll have an MKV up in the next few days!

Great reconstruction. Waiting for other reconstructions in the future. Keep up the great work.

omgitsgodzilla wrote:The 1080p version is now uploaded and available! There's just the MP4 version right now, but I'll have an MKV up in the next few days!

Fantastic!!!!!

I just watched parts where it transitioned from American to Japanese footage and with the sources provided is seamless at a glance. I can't wait to see more of your own reconstructions for those.

Well, I tried rendering the double feature I had planned multiple times, but my computer crashed every time, and the last attempt produced a ludicrously huge (29GB) file, so I'm scrapping the double feature as it was basically just a novelty anyway.

I had some reconstructions of the Godzilla 1985 trailer and the "I Was Afraid to Love You" made for it, and I'll be rendering and uploading those in the usual formats as bonus features for Godzilla 1985. After that, it's on to the next reconstruction. Stay tuned!

Just watched your 1.0 restoration and it was awesome! I haven't seen Godzilla 1985 in its entirety since my VHS copy in the late 90's/early 2000's, and the attention to detail you paid was excellent. It looks as good or better than what I'd expect from an official blu ray release, which may never happen. Incredible work!