Godzilla (And Friends) In The News 05/03/10 (Part 2)

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: Undead Backbrain / The Bloodshot Eye / Avery Guerra

Undoubtedly you have seen this photo before (left) if you are a member of the Godzilla 2012 group on Facebook. The group wasn't even 24 hours old before someone added it to the site.

Most of you probably know the story behind this baby as well. Yes, it is rumored to be the Godzilla 2012 design that Legendary Pictures submitted to Toho. Of course, that fact is highly debated, and most people concur that it is simply a fan-made piece of art that has wandered off a site like Deviant Art or something similar.

There are many images like this one out there, Godzilla fans are a creative bunch, and Robert Hood from Undead Backbrain has taken a good look at some of them and how they rate as potential "Godzilla 2012" designs.

Unlike my counterpart, I don't really like any of them. The one above looks like "GINO 2", another looks fat, another looks like it has a bulldog face, and yet another looks like a dinosaur that someone stuck Godzilla-esque back plates on.

Then, there is another one that just looks as mad as hell. That image has also been on the Facebook site for some time as well, and many fans really dig it. Admittedly, it is the one G design featured that I could throw my support behind.

Well, enough of my two cents, here is Robert's take on all of these via Undead Backbrain

Here is a great article on the upcoming "Gamera, the Giant Monster" DVD release by John Beifuss via The Bloodshot Eye.

In general, journalism doesn't pay well. But it does have its compensations, as when one finds that one has an excuse to write about that giant jet-propelled Japanese turtle named Gamera, the destructive yet oddly lovable stomper-of-cities and fire-breathing friend-to-children who first emerged from the ice of the arctic and the frost of the Cold War in 1965, as Daiei Studios' answer to Toho's daikaiju (giant monster) superstar, Godzilla.

Could there be a better time than now to revel in turtle power? Perhaps you've seen some of the awful images of dead sea turtles from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill catastrophe. Too bad those turtles don't have a real-life hero on the half shell to look out for their interests, even one that's a monster.

Previously released in the U.S. only on a lovingly produced VHS edition from Neptune Media (a defunct Columbus, Ohio, company), the original Japanese version of "Gamera, the Giant Monster" makes its DVD debut on May 18 in a subtitled "Special Edition" disc on the Shout! Factory label. The bad news is that Shout! Factory (unlike Neptune Media) was unable to acquire the rights to include a pristine version of the dubbed American re-edit of the film, titled "Gammera the Invincible" when it was released in the U.S. in December, 1966 (on an unlikely double bill with Mario Bava's "Knives of the Avenger"). The good news for shell-o-philes is that Shout! Factory plans to release all seven of the original Daiei sequels on DVD, in their original Japanese versions, with U.S. dubs included when possible.

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See Also: Godzilla (And Friends) In The News 05/03/10 / Godzilla In The News 04/21/10 - Big G Influences Fashion And Music, Plus The Top 5 G Films According To CNN / Godzilla In The News 04/19/10 - Obama Worried Jolly Green Giant/Godzilla Conflict Could Destabilize Region / Godzilla 2012 In The News 04/15/10 - The Angry Edition! / Godzilla 2012 In The News 04/12/10 / Godzilla 2012 In The News 04/08/10 / Godzilla 2012 In The News 04/04/10 - Happy Easter! / Godzilla 2012 In The News 04/01/10 / Godzilla 2012 In The News 03/31/10