Invasion of the Astro-Monsters Int'l Version Red Menace HD Reconstruction AVAILABLE NOW

[omgitsgodzilla]

The Invasion of the Astro-Monsters reconstruction is available now!

The 1080p HD reconstruction of Invasion of the Astro-Monsters' International version is completed and available to download! Send a private message for details.

Notes on this release:

• The Toho transfer had its contrast and saturation boosted to alleviate its flat appearance.
• This version was synchronized to the UK VHS release of the International version (which was slowed down from PAL speed), and also uses that release's audio track, which was adjusted slightly for better synchronization.
• The opening credits were carefully digitally recreated.
• The expository text at the beginning and the end title card are presented using a combination of the Simitar DVD (to retain the entire image) and the Classic Media DVD (to reduce artifacting around the text itself).
• The English Toho logo comes from the Godzilla vs. Gigan Blu-ray by Kraken Releasing.
• The textless riot montage was recreated using a complicated patching/masking process for one shot and reverting to the UK VHS source for the others; the VHS source presents the film in roughly 1.85:1 and so does not fill the entire 2.35:1 frame, but is placed appropriately within it.
• The Toho transfer is typically missing a handful of frames at the beginning and end of each reel. Where the missing frames couldn't be compensated for in a satisfactory fashion, the sound/sync reference was trimmed to match what was there.

[Great Hierophant]

The opening title credit's typeface reminds me of The Munsters. I didn't know the UK version had a few more riot images than the US version.

[omgitsgodzilla]

The opening title credit's typeface reminds me of The Munsters. I didn't know the UK version had a few more riot images than the US version.

It's the same montage, just without either the Japanese or English newspaper headline overlays.

[GodzillaBurgh]

Another awesome job! When you start working on GODZILLA VS. THE THING, let me know. I'll help you out.

[Great Hierophant]

I didn't know that Namikawa's letter to Glenn is in Japanese in this version, essentially this looks like an earlier version of Invasion of Astro-Monster. I can imagine that Saperstein didn't go to the trouble to include extra English text in this version if he had ideas to sell the film to non-English speaking countries.

[omgitsgodzilla]

If I'm remembering right, this particular version was kind of an after-the-fact effort by Toho to conform the US dub to the Japanese editing, usually by reverting to the Japanese soundtrack for portions that were cut in the US (and in one case by using the on-set production audio, with Akira Takarada speaking Japanese and Nick Adams speaking English). There's one point where it doesn't quite work; the English insert of Namikawa's letter was apparently shorter in length than the original Japanese one, leading to Tetsuo's "A certain sound?" line after Namikawa's voice-over being noticeably out of sync, with the synchronization being corrected from the following line ("So that's why the cell is soundproof!") on.

This version does, however, seem to use an earlier version of the Saperstein credits - compare the copyright dates between this and Monster Zero. (I also think this was made after the fact by Toho since the first part of the last shot, where the "The End" title appears, is inexplicably cut, implying it was spliced in from a different source.)

[Great Hierophant]

That would make "Invasion of the Astro Monsters" the first International Version of a Godzilla film confirmed to exist. I wonder why the international title is officially "Invasion of Astro Monster" when "Invasion of the Astro Monsters" conforms better to the plot (because three monsters invade the Earth) and sounds less like Engrish.

[omgitsgodzilla]

I think the Invasion of Astro-Monster title was used on the English promotional materials prepared by Toho, but the Invasion of the Astro-Monsters title seems to have come from the earlier Saperstein credits, suggesting he was originally planning to use that title.

And it does seem to be the earliest Godzilla film to have an International version prepared, but again, I'm not sure when it was actually assembled. Considering it uses English visuals prepared by Saperstein/UPA, it could have been made some time after the fact.

[Great Hierophant]

Interestingly, the typeface between Invasion of the Astro Monsters and Monster Zero is very similar but not exact. There was also an Invasion of the Astros title card as well using the same typeface as used in Invasion of the Astro Monsters. Both Astro titles give a copyright date of 1966 whereas Monster Zero's copyright was 1970. This suggests that Invasion of the Astro Monsters was the first English cut of the film and Monster Zero was the second.

[Kore321]

Thanks Red for this. Love all the HD reconstructions.. Looking for more in the future!!

[Great Hierophant]

More info on older Int'l versions : viewtopic.php?f=4&t=26266&p=1471279&hil ... g#p1471279

[GodzillaBurgh]

Where's the cover art?

[omgitsgodzilla]

The link to the MKV version should lead to a folder that also has the cover art; I uploaded it as a folder instead of a zip file this time so people didn't have to download the whole thing just to get at the covers. I guess I never got around to posting it publicly; I'll go do that

Added in 2 minutes 23 seconds:

[ultrase7en]

Fantastic job! Thanks again for putting it together!

[Gorka the Vampire]

Hi Red,

Thanks for the posting of Invasion of the Astro Monsters. As always...a perfect and professional job to match all your other HD reconstructions. I personally can't wait for you to get to Godzilla vs. the Thing which is my own personal favorite of the three Godzilla films AIP released in the United States. I'm sure once you are done with that, it'll look BETTER than it looked when it was new in 1964.

Keep up the great work!!!

[MikeSTZillak]

The Google Drive link is in SD.

[omgitsgodzilla]

Hi Red,

Thanks for the posting of Invasion of the Astro Monsters. As always...a perfect and professional job to match all your other HD reconstructions. I personally can't wait for you to get to Godzilla vs. the Thing which is my own personal favorite of the three Godzilla films AIP released in the United States. I'm sure once you are done with that, it'll look BETTER than it looked when it was new in 1964.

Keep up the great work!!!

Thank you! Always good to hear people are enjoying these.

The Google Drive link is in SD.

That's just the preview; if you download the actual file it'll be in HD.

[MikeSTZillak]

The Google Drive link is in SD.

That's just the preview; if you download the actual file it'll be in HD.[/quote]

Ah. All right.

[kamilleblu]

When you reconstruct movies that use stock footage do you pull material from the source (Rodan in this case) or make do with the recycled footage as is? I imagine the former method would yield higher quality results.

[omgitsgodzilla]

When you reconstruct movies that use stock footage do you pull material from the source (Rodan in this case) or make do with the recycled footage as is? I imagine the former method would yield higher quality results.

It kind of varies case-to-case. In Godzilla 1985, I replaced the stock footage from the original Godzilla with the Criterion transfer, since the copy they originally used appeared to be very low quality. In this case, though, I just used the footage as it appeared on the Astro-Monster Blu-ray. Because of the difference in aspect ratio between Rodan and this film, using the footage from the Rodan Blu-ray would have required blowing it up to fill the scope frame, meaning it would actually be lower in resolution than the rest of the film. (That, and I'm not sure I had the Rodan Blu-ray at the time I was making this.)