Extras |
· |
Menus (Japanese) |
· |
Chapters (12) |
· |
Trailers: Dogora, Varan
(Tokyo Shock), The
Mysterians (Tokyo Shock), Matango,
Gappa (US) |
· |
Photo Gallery |
 |
|
Captures |
|
Review |
 |
Anthony
Romero |
 |
| |
Tokyo Shock takes off their training wheels
for this one, as at the time of release they
had no region 2 release of the movie to fall
back on. To sum up their efforts: mixed at
best, with a decent video and audio presentation
that is supplemented with hardly any new extras
for those who have picked up the previous
titles from the firm. |
Video: |
 |
The company's first foray into making
a video track from scratch for a Toho film
is met with mixed results. The first thing
to note are the colors, which look very vibrant
on this release. Sadly, this effect was achieved
through over saturating the source, resulting
in an unnatural looking color spectrum at
times. The brightness level, to compensate
for the darker hues, was also beefed up. This,
sadly, has a fairly negative effect on things
like lab coats and other details, which now
look washed out. In terms of noise levels, this is handled well as there is only a minor
amount of grain visible that offers a more natural looking video track.
As for the shape of the print
used, it tends to be in good condition for
most of the duration. In general, there are
some minor scratches. Sadly, the
shape of the print isn't consistent. For example,
there is some noticeable print damage that
occurs during the opening credit sequence,
as seen
here with the vertical yellow line. As
expected, any scenes with stock footage or
super imposition sport a much more apparent
amount of print damage as well, with a prime
example seen
here. In spite of its faults, the print
is still in very good shape considering the
film's age. Regretfully, the movie has also
been cropped on all four sides, an aspect
which is obvious when comparing this release
to Toho's region 2 Dogora
DVD:
region
1 - region
2
Dogora is presented on the disc in
its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, or Toho
Scope, and is Anamorphic for widescreen TVs.
|
Audio: |
 |
The company's standard array of options
for the audio presentation are gone for this
release, but the basics are here, and presented
well enough that it's hard to be cross about
it.
In total, there are two audio tracks present.
The first is a 2.0 mono track in English of
the, horrendous, international dubbing for
the film. For the record, this is the same
dubbing used on AIP's TV release in the US,
so those that have nostalgic attachment to
it would likely be pleased to see its inclusion
here. As for the quality of the audio track,
it's certainly not perfect. The entire audio
track, in fact, sounds like the upper volume
levels have been reduced, making everything
sound flat, even for a mono track. Quality
is also iffy, with the dialogue sometimes
sounding rough as the source was clearly not
in the best of condition. The audio track
wavers in and out too, although very rarely,
with the clearest example happening when the
bridge collapses.
The other audio track present is a 2.0 mono
presentation of the film's original Japanese
audio track. Thankfully, this audio track
is just about flawless. The volume levels
are all maintained well here, while there
are no pops or crackles to be heard. As expected
with the mono format, there is no speaker
distinction, and while a stereo or surround
option would have been a nice addition, the
mono track still gets the job done.
The Japanese track is accompanied by, removable,
English subtitles. The subtitle job on this
disc is fairly faithful, a few typos aside,
while a second set of subtitles can be turned
on for the English dubbed track, which will
translate Japanese text seen in the film.
|
Extras: |
 |
Tokyo Shock takes their swing at trying
to stock this disc with extras from their
own resources, and comes up noticeably short.
It wouldn't be fair to call it a bare bones
release, but it's pretty close. The first
extra on this disc is a large array of production
stills related to the film, all in black and
white. Unfortunately, the quality of the photos
leaves some to be desired, with the brightness
level often set high enough that it washes
out most of the detail while circular edges
in the pictures look very rough, like a "gif"
image that has been enlarged.
The other extra here is the film's original
trailer and some select previews. Dogora's
trailer is in good condition, with very little
print damage present and with no digital inconsistencies
to speak of. It has the same color problems
of the film found on the DVD, though, and
is also likewise cropped. The other original
trailer present is for Matango, which,
thankfully, has been spared any tampering.
The Varan trailer though isn't as fortunate,
as it now sports an overlapped English title
and is no longer anamorphic. It's not enough
to get upset over, certainly less than was
done for Tokyo Shock's cheesy The Mysterians
trailer, which is also present. The last trailer
here, and the only one which isn't Toho, is
the US trailer for Gappa. |
Overview: |
 |
Bottom
line, the disc is lacking a bit, especially
compared to other efforts from the company
released around the same time. That said,
still far from a bad release for those just
looking to enjoy the movie without much concern
for the extras.
|
| |