One of two Godzilla DVDs released by Tristar in December
of 2004, the region 1 Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.
DVD sadly falls short of what one has come to expect
from Tristar's more recent Toho releases. The video
quality found on the disc presents a combination of
minor problems, while the audio presentation is generally
good, save for the subtitle work; fortunately, the disc's
extras are its saving grace when compared with other
region 1 Godzilla titles.
Video:
After some excellent Godzilla DVDs of three of the films
from the 1970s, one was likely expecting Tristar to
do an amazing job when it came to a movie that was hardly
a year old. Sadly, that's not the case. The film's video
presentation is marred by a lot of minor problems that,
when scene as a whole, leave some to be desired in the
end. The colors in the film, an aspect for which Tristar
is often so good with, are slightly off here. Yes, they
do appear vibrant on this release, as with other titles
from the company, with deep reds and blues coming in
wonderfully; however, this is offset by the fact that
the magenta level in the color scheme is too high here,
giving the film a slight purple tint throughout. It's
only a small discoloring, nothing like the blatant discoloring
on ADV's Destroy
All Monsters release though, but it does offset
what would have been an amazing color presentation otherwise.
As for the brightness level, it's set just right here,
with the numerous night scenes being easy to spot details
during; something which I suppose Tristar deserves praise
for, as this was a problem on their three October releases.
In regards to digital inconstancies, like artifacting
or shimmering, they are minimal during the film itself,
as it looks sharp with very little pixilation.
The print used in the transfer is the International
version of Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., and if Tristar
were up for any immediate suggestions for their titles
it would be to skip Toho's own International version
altogether, or at least use the Japanese footage for
the title sequence and simply subtitle the English title
at the bottom. As usual, Toho's International department
has ruined the excellent title sequence to this film
by placing English text directly over the Japanese text
(as
seen here) with the end result being that both are
hardly legible. In terms of the source used, scratches do appear on occasion during
the film, shocking given the movie's age. As for noise, a thick layer of grain (most obvious
in certain shots, like
this one) plagues most of the movie. Thankfully,
most of the film takes place at night, which manages
to mask this rather well.
In a bit of good news, the
film's original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is maintained
on this DVD and is Anamorphic for widescreen TVs.
Audio:
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. contains two audio tracks:
a 5.1 surround presentation of the original Japanese
audio track along with a 5.1 surround presentation of
the film's International English dubbed track. Ignoring
the awful voice readings for the dubbed track, both
sound great here. There is a great sound distinction
for the multi-speaker presentation during the movie,
as explosions and roars appear to come from all directions.
It's what one has come to expect from Tristar in this
department. The dubbed track is recorded a little low
here, at least when compared with the Japanese audio
track, but otherwise it's a faithful recreation.
Sadly, despite the exceptional quality of the audio
tracks themselves, a old problem with the subtitles
rears its ugly head here once more. Instead of translating
the Japanese track for the removable English subtitles,
Tristar instead opted to simply subtitle the dubbed
track. It's more or less word for word too, even down
to calling Kiryu "Mecha G" or "Mechagodzilla"
depending on how it's stated in the dubbed track. This
causes numerous problems, as Toho's international department
loves to deviate from the source material on occasion
when dubbing films. Even for people who have no understanding
of the language itself, or have never seen another subtitled
print of the film, they should be able to spot that
Tristar is subtitling the English track here. In fact,
there are moments in the film when dialogue was added
in for the International version, which causes subtitles
to appear on screen while no one is talking (seen
during this scene, which has no dialogue in the
Japanese version). It's sad to see this problem appear
once again, as they seemed to realize their mistake
starting with their release of Godzilla
Against Mechagodzilla only to repeat it here
once again. The only good thing I can say about the
subtitle job on this disc is that they actually translated
the dialogue for the film's final scene, in the DNA
chamber, which is silent on the dubbed track.
Extras:
The extras on this disc are what allow it to stand apart
from previous Tristar Godzilla releases, although it
still falls very short of their excellent Returner
DVD. As with all of Tristar's releases, there are a
varied number of trailers here. Most notable is the
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. teaser trailer, but since
that appeared on all three of Tristar's October Godzilla
DVDs it doesn't stand out much here. Beyond some questionable
trailer picks, like Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood
Orchid,
there is also a "Godzilla Compilation Trailer".
The "Compilation Trailer" is a two minute
advertisement for the other Godzilla titles currently
available from Tristar, excluding those from the Heisei
series, while footage from Godzilla:
Tokyo S.O.S. plays. Beyond the fact that it's nice
to hear the Millennium series mentioned by name (although
it likely still won't stop some fans from incorrectly
calling it the "Shinsei" series), the Compilation
Trailer features a very unenthusiastic voice-over and
is better left forgotten.
Beyond the trailers, though, the disc also feature
a lengthy (22 minutes long, in fact) behind the scenes
look at the film. It's a nice feature, showing the techniques
of the special effects staff and ending with footage
from the movie itself of that particular scene to give
an idea of what the final product ended up looking like.
As for the quality of the footage, it's about what one
would expect for a Behind the Scenes documentary. There
is more artifacting noticeable, which makes the feature
look blurry, while shimmering (a rainbow band of colors)
appears on finer details. The brightness in general
is turned up a little too high as well. Overall though,
it's not enough to distract from the viewing experience
much. The feature does have minimal (removable) English
subtitles, which appear on screen to subtitle the Japanese
text.
Overview:
Bottom line, it's the first time that
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. has been available on
DVD in the United States, so fans will likely gobble
up the disc regardless of quality. Overall, though,
it's far from a bad DVD, but falls short in comparison
with other Tristar releases this year. The Behind the
Scenes feature is nice, though, and does compensate
for some of the disc's other shortcomings in the end.
This disc is also featured in the DVD box set(s): Godzilla
DVD Collection (3 pack)
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