Region 1 Subtitles

[godzilla98rules]

I not sure this has been answered or not. But out of all the Godzilla films released on dvd in America, which ones contain:

1. Accurate Translation?
2. Dubtitles?
3. Close, but not perfect translation?

[Goji]

1. Accurate translations-Not entirely sure, and since only one person on these boards speaks Japanese (who doesn't post much anymore), nobody will really be able to tell you which are 100% accurate. I can however mention titles that I know have "good", or better than good subtitles.

-GODZILLA (1954) Critereon DVD/BD-released 2012
-GODZILLA X/AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA (2002) Sony/TriStar DVD-released 2003
-GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE (1989) Echo Bridge DVD/BD-released 2012
-GODZILLA VS. MEGALON (1973) Media Blasters DVD-released 2012
-DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1968) Media Blasters DVD/BD-released 2011, *OOP*

2. Dubtitles. Several of Sony's DVD's contain dubtitles.
-GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA (1993)
-GODZILLA X MEGAGUIRUS (2000)
-GODZILLA MOTHRA KING GHIDORAH:GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK (2001)

-TOKYO S.O.S features subtitles seen on Toho's subtitled print, but they substitute the word Kiryu with "MechaG" or "Mechagodzilla", in the subtitles. It's obnoxious because it's very easy to tell when character's are saying "Kiryu". Basically the subs are a mixed bag.

3. Close, not perfect-There's a lot in this category. Some of Sony/TriStar's other titles feature 'hybrid subs'; which are a mix of both the Japanese translation and dub track. (Which considering the international dubs are relatively close to the original Japanese dialogue, this isn't exactly a bad thing)

-GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER (1966) Sony/TriStar-released 2004. *OOP*
-SON OF GODZILLA (1967) Sony/Tristar-released 2004. *OOP*
-GODZILLA VS. HEDORAH (1971) Sony/Tristar-released 2004 "OOP*
-GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA (1974) Sony/TriStar-released 2004 *OOP*

As for all of the Classic Media discs, they're a mixed bag. Some of the subtitles are riddled with spelling errors, and poor translations, but the upside is that I've heard none of them actually contain dubtitles.

I hope this helps!

[godzilla98rules]

That is rather helpful. Some of those I figured, but I made this topic after watching Godzilla vs Hedorah, and seeing that it contained what seemed to be dubtitles but also having several different lines. I wasn't sure if they were accurate, or close. But I never thought about it being a hybrid. Seems possible.

[Goji]

Forgot to add HEDORAH. That's in the hybrid category, but it's more leaning toward 'accurate', from what I've heard.

Honestly, you're not going to get many people around here who would bother to put a list together like this for you.

[schvanzbass]

I've been wondering this as well. Thanks Goji, you're a badass.

[Rodan1987]

I have both the Godzilla 1954 classic media DVD and the Criterion DVD. There were a few times where the Classic Media subtitles sounded better than the Criterion one.
I'll give an example, The scene with the Odo island fishermen just before the helicopter arrives:

Classic Media:

Man: It's no good. We didn't catch anything!
Old man: Then...Godzilla must have done it.
Woman: The old man and Godzilla...both relics from the past!
Old man: Hey! If you keep ridiculing our traditions, Godzilla will come and eat you!

Criterion:

Man: Not even small fry. It's never been this bad.
Old man: I knew it...it must must be Godzilla.
Woman: Godzilla again, pops? There's no such thing nowadays.
Old man: Hey! If you keep ridiculing our ways, I'll feed you stupid cows to Godzilla!

[LegendZilla]

Why did both want to make different translations?

[G-Matt]

Why did both want to make different translations?

Possibly because Japanese sentences can be interpreted in several ways.

[Goji]

Why did both want to make different translations?

You really think they're going to use someone else's work in that department for any of their releases?

And man, posting in a 4 and a half year old thread is the definition of necroposting.

[Mr_Goji_and_Watch]

Who cares if they necoposted? It's relevant to the thread and harmless.

And yeah, it's most likely because translating Japanese to English isn't 1 to 1.

[MikeSTZillak]

A good question to ask is: If they are Dubtitles, Is the dub faithful?

[Mr_Goji_and_Watch]

Most likely, because dub scripts are written by Toho, but they do lose some nuance.

[MikeSTZillak]

Does this set have proper subtitles for Gamera 3?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... RmXBhNJ6aN

[Terasawa]

Does this set have proper subtitles for Gamera 3?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... RmXBhNJ6aN

I don't speak Japanese so I can't say if they're totally accurate, but they aren't "dubtitles." The one thing to note is that the first pressing of the G3 disc had large chunks of the movie unsubtitled. Mill Creek issued replacements later on but I don't know if they'll be able to help now if you somehow get one of the "bad" discs.

[Maritonic]

Does this set have proper subtitles for Gamera 3?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... RmXBhNJ6aN

I don't speak Japanese so I can't say if they're totally accurate, but they aren't "dubtitles." The one thing to note is that the first pressing of the G3 disc had large chunks of the movie unsubtitled. Mill Creek issued replacements later on but I don't know if they'll be able to help now if you somehow get one of the "bad" discs.

Sadly, they won't. I realized this debacle too late in the game and was told they stopped carrying the product and weren't going to be able to help me. So, basically if you get one of these defective discs (like me!) you're screwed.