GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE DVD/Blu-ray from Echo Bridge

[Tamura]

Speaking of which, an English dubbed print is playing at the Japan Filmfest in Hamburg. I suggest contacting them, mxg744:

http://www.jffh.de/en/2012/godzilla-vs-biollante/

[Rockzilla]

I'm pretty sure the subtitles from the old Tokyo Monsters site are better than the R3 DVD's subtitles. I don't think anyone would object to using those subtitles.

[Tyler]

The Japanese version features Japanese giant Japanese characters/text on screen constantly, which is completely pointless to people who don't speak/read Japanese.

What is it, like location stuff?

[Tamura]

^ It's that, and every time someone says a word of English.

[Goji]

GODZILLA ('84) suffers from the same problem, though IIRC, it's not as extreme.

[Tamura]

Every Heisei Godzilla does to some extent. SPACEGODZILLA probably has the most location titles (none of which advance the plot or tell us anything crucial) and MECHAGODZILLA by far has the most dialog subtitles. MOTHRA has the least onscreen text, if I recall correctly, while G84, BIOLLANTE and KING GHIDORAH seem to have about the same amount. I can't remember how frequent they are in DESTROYER.

[Rockzilla]

I hope mxg744 actually comes back to read our responses.

[GreenAiden555]

Only Godzilla DVD I own is the Criterion.... Though that may change if this gets released.

[Tyler]

none of which advance the plot or tell us anything crucial

So you're saying get rid of them entirely or use the International print as a clean slate for English translations?

[Tamura]

Not really. I just want to see intact international prints of these films.

[mxg744]

Come with me if you want to live.

How can I trust you?

As for the international print... Maybe Toho will send us the international version by default? Its a long shot, but since I have to request our materials through Miramax and they decide what to do with that request, I can't be 100% sure what they asked for. I know that I explained to our Miramax contact that Toho released a BD of GVB and we should be able to get an HD element as well. I never stated that we wanted this cut or that cut, so if Toho and Miramax are lazy, they probably will just clone the same HD master that Toho used for their BD and ship that over.

Thanks to Tamura, I did go over to the film festival's website and shot them an email. I'm guessing they won't get back to it for a while since the festival is this week, but hopefully they do respond. This is an exact copy of the email I sent...
[To whom it may concern,
I work for Echo Bridge Home Entertainment in the United States and we have recently acquired the rights to distribute the film GODZILLA VS BIOLLANTE on home video in North America. We have been working with Toho and Miramax to get the best print of the film available, but I have seen some resistance and we are now in the final stages of transferring an HD source to our vault after 10 months of work.
I have been researching fan interest and preference on this film and it appears that some fans think the print you have for your festival is some kind of ‘international’ cut that doesn’t have as many on screen Japanese subtitles for locations and translations of English dialogue. Can you please let me know if this is true and what distributor you got your print from so that I may see if we can request similar materials directly from Toho or whatever sub-distributor owns such a print?]

@Rockzilla

I'm pretty sure the subtitles from the old Tokyo Monsters site are better than the R3 DVD's subtitles. I don't think anyone would object to using those subtitles.

Do you have a link to this site or somewhere I can find these subs?


I thought getting the HD materials was a pretty good improvement over the SD digibeta Miramax originally delivered with audio so bad I can't even describe it...

Also, do any of you know where I can buy the HBO Laserdisc? I tried winning one on eBay last week and someone sniped by bid. I want to have it as reference material for the English dub. I have a copy of the Japanese BD arriving this week and a copy of the R3 DVD coming in soon after that. I will use them both for reference and try to get access from Toho/Miramax for the bonus materials on the GVB BD so we can hopefully translate them and include at least subtitles for those.

[KeizerKing81]

I really appreciate the work you're putting into this mxg744 and am excited to see what the final result brings. I am simply hoping for a nice HD print of the film with english subs and the dub intact - any extra features are a nice bonus but I know Toho can be extremely difficult to work with when it comes to that (just ask Media Blasters). Anyways, nice to know that a Biollante bluray/dvd release is happening and I will pick it up on day one. Again, thanks so much for your efforts.

[Tamura]

Thanks, mxg744! Like KeizerKing said, we really appreciate you reaching out to us.

[Goji]

I'm pretty sure the subtitles from the old Tokyo Monsters site are better than the R3 DVD's subtitles. I don't think anyone would object to using those subtitles.

Really? I have both, but the R3 subs never really struck me as "bad"; but then again, I don't speak or read Japanese. Do you know any particular flubs the R3 subs have off the top of your head, Rockzilla?

Not really. I just want to see intact international prints of these films.

Yeah, I mean, it's also less work for the people involved. If Media Blasters had used the international versions for all of their releases, they wouldn't have had to spend all that extra time translating the credits.

If I had the HBO LaserDisc, I would have just gladly lent it out for use...I do know somebody that owns it, and he would likely be willing to let it be used as long as it was returned. I'll try contacting him (though I suspect he'll see this topic soon enough).

Thanks for your efforts mxg744. They really are very much appreciated!

[Proofpoochie]

mxg744, can you guys please not fill the Biollante Blu-ray transfer with ugly compression artifacts? Most Echo Bridge releases are filled with them and look awful.

[Tamura]

Determining by the professionalism of mxg744's posts, we ought not worry about something like that.

[mxg744]

What do you guys know about the English track on this LD?
http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/45880/ML-1155/Godzilla-vsoe-Biollante-(Gojira-vsoe-Biorante)-(1989)
Is it any good?

[Tamura]

^ I recall Rockzilla saying he had that... he could fill you in. If you're able to utilize a print of the international version, you may not need these laserdiscs, since the international is in English.

[mxg744]

Tamura, I am preparing for the case that we get a clone of the Japanese version, which is what it looks like they are delivering the first week of June. It is a direct clone of the HD element used to master the Japanese BD. I am asking around to see if anyone has the international version on anything except 35mm. It looks like the film festival in Germany has international print on 35mm, but if we get access to that, its a few thousand dollars ($20-$30k) to create a new HD master up to Miramax standards and we would have to share that cost. I don't know if I could convince our marketing and development team to put that money down for this film, especially since they know we can get an HD master from Toho for the cost of an HD clone ($800)

:/

Also, how different are the English language tracks on these two LDs?
http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/23630/LD-90838/Godzilla-vsoe-Biollante-(Gojira-vsoe-Biorante)-(1989)
http://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/45880/ML-1155/Godzilla-vsoe-Biollante-(Gojira-vsoe-Biorante)-(1989)

[Goji]

Hrmm..disappointing =/. It would be great if a new transfer could be made from the 35mm print, but I understand that cost might an issue..

Hopefully Rockzilla owns both of those LD's, and can confirm if one sounds better than the other.