Media Blasters' "Destroy All Monsters" DVD/Blu-ray Release Including AIP Dub?

by Armand Vaquer

Above, the box art for ADV Films' DVD of "Destroy All Monsters" from 2004. Media Blasters hasn't released any photos of their upcoming box art. They say they have a few "surprises" in store.

Media Blasters' DVD and Blu-ray editions of Destroy All Monsters and Godzilla vs. Megalon are days away (slated for October 25) from being released.

The big question in fans' minds is, "Will they include the AIP (original distributor American International Pictures) dub on DAM?" Fans generally agree that the Toho "international dub" is horrendous (I am in this camp) and that the inclusion of the AIP dub would be a big selling point.

Well, once people start receiving their discs and post reviews on the Internet, we will know for sure! It is rumored that the AIP dub had been sourced from a 16mm print of DAM.

The last video release of DAM by ADV was back in 2004 (for Godzilla's 50th anniversary) and it only included the "international dub." As a refresher, here's my 2004 review of that release:

Taking advantage of Godzilla's 50th Anniversary, ADV Films has produced a Special Edition DVD of Destroy All Monsters! (1968) complete with a soundtrack CD for the price of $14.99.

While I have other and better (including one with the original U.S. dubbing) copies of DAM, the price of $14.99 for a DVD with a CD were too good to pass up. Was this worth the $14.99? Easily yes!

On the DVD itself, it contains the "international" Toho dub that many fans aren't too fond of. Since I've owned the ADV VHS edition with the same dub, that really didn't bother me and I fully expected it.

However, the film transfer itself is not one that I would give high marks for. The print used was a bit worn to begin with and the "natural" enhancement that digital transfers do to older films only accentuate the film scratches and sound pops of the soundtrack. It was not anywhere near as obvious in the VHS edition of a few years ago. I would have expected that ADV would have been able to obtain a more pristine print of the film to make the digital transfers. Plus, there are no chapter stops or a menu (well, since there's no chapters, who needs a menu?) and no extras on the DVD. It would have been nice if they included the original Japanese and/or U.S. trailers. This is pretty bare-bones!

The soundtrack CD, on the other hand, is a gem of an item and it alone is worth the price of the item. There are 30 Akira Ifukube tracks on the CD. But, unfortunately, there's nothing in the package to tell you the titles of each track. Since most of us pretty much memorized the movie anyway, we can picture in our own minds which scenes each track came from. If you don't already have the soundtrack for DAM in your kaiju library, this item is a must-have. Your neighbors will love you for cranking up your system's volume while playing this!

I have to admit the packaging art for this DVD/CD is very nice. It is a lot better than the cartoony one ADV released before. "50th Anniversary" is quite evident in the packing art. The average person not "in the know" might be led to believe that it is the 50th Anniversary of Destroy All Monsters!, not Godzilla himself.

The DVD is in widescreen and 2.0 English.

My overall grade for this item is B. Too bad ADV didn't put out a product that matched or came close to their recent Gamera trilogy releases.

The DVD gets a C and the CD gets an A.

Media Blasters has promised a few "surprises" with their release. We'll see.

The Criterion Collection: "Godzilla"

Details on the upcoming Criterion Blu-ray and DVD of Godzilla (1954) are now available at Criterion's website. Both the Blu-ray and DVD editions will be available January 24, 2012.

Features include:

New high-definition digital restoration (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)

Audio commentary by David Kalat (A Critical History and Filmography of Toho’s Godzilla Series)

New high-definition digital restoration of Godzilla, King of the Monsters, Terry Morse’s 1956 reworking of the original, starring Raymond Burr

Audio commentary for Godzilla, King of the Monsters by Kalat

New interviews with actor Akira Takarada (Hideto Ogata), Godzilla performer Haruo Nakajima, and effects technicians Yoshio Irie and Eizo Kaimai

Interview with legendary Godzilla score composer Akira Ifukube

Featurette detailing Godzilla’s photographic effects

New interview with Japanese-film critic Tadao Sato

The Unluckiest Dragon, an illustrated audio essay featuring historian Greg Pflugfelder describing the tragic fate of the fishing vessel Daigo fukuryu maru, a real-life event that inspired Godzilla

Theatrical trailers

New and improved English subtitle translation

PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic J. Hoberman

To see Criterion's site on the Godzilla Blu-ray and DVD, go here.

Japanese Giant Monsters And Robots In The News 04/23/10

"Assault Girls" Coming To Blu-Ray In Japan On June 23rd/New Behind-The-Scenes Pics - A New "Gundam" Themed Cafe Opens - An Outside Review Of Nintendo's "Kaiju Busters"

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Sources: Undead Backbrain / Kotaku /Japan Times / Nintendo Life / Avery Guerra

Director Mamoru Oshii's "Assault Girls" is one of the slickest looking sci fi/monster films to be produced in Japan in recent memory.

The film follows the exploits of three virtual big-game hunters, played by the three stunning actresses Meisa Kuroki, Rinko Kikuchi and Hinako, as they stalk giant monsters in an imaginary world run wild.

The film, which was released in theaters last December, is packed with over-the-top effects and great monster action. Two facts that have lead to there being great interest in the film on this side of the Pacific.

Actually, 'interest' is an understatement, an unnamed Hollywood studio has already gobbled up the rights to do an American remake.

Here is the synopsis:

The story takes place in an in-game virtual space called "Avalon (f)", a barren desert-like battlefield, resembling a devastated world after a nuclear war. "Avalon (f)" is a world full of gigantic monsters. It is a fictional world where an endless "hunt", known as "play", repeatedly takes place. The drama centers around a sniper who pilots a camouflage fighter plane; a sorcerer who can freely transform herself; a woman fighter equipped with an assault rifle on a horseback; and a large-framed man equipped with an anti-tank rifle. There is also the "Game Master" who watches the players from the air.

In a world where giant Sunakujira (Sand Whales) monsters crawl the earth, storming battleships fly high up in the sky, and assault rifle muzzle flashes go off everywhere, can anyone shoot down the mutant monster, Madara Sunakujira (Spotted Sand Whale)? If so, who?!

"Assault Girls" will be released on Blu-Ray in Japan on June 23rd.

Here are some behind-the-scenes photos (next story after the break):




Everyone knows that the giant robot Anime, "Gundam", is simply huge in Japan, and that 'themed' restaurants and theme parks are as equally as huge.

So, should it come to any ones surprise that Bandai would open an official "Gundam Cafe" in Tokyo's Akihabara district?

Of course not.

The sixty seat cafe, which is filled with "Gundam" memorabilia, themed food and drink items, and videos on giant screens, opens tomorrow.

At a press event in Tokyo this week Bandai paraded out, what they think will be the "Gundam Cafe's" most popular attraction, pretty young female hostesses dressed in uniforms from the show.

That's mini-boots, knee-high stockings and mini-skirts gentlemen.

The young ladies will serve as hostesses, waitresses and the official 'face' of "Gundam" posing for photographs with visitors.

Though the new cafe is designed for a Japanese crowd, Bandai president Kazunori Ueno hopes that it will attract new foreign tourists as well, ‘‘The restaurant has the capability to entertain core and lighter Gundam fans, children, and female customers as well as customers from overseas.’‘

Here are some photos of the new official "Gundam Cafe" (next story after the break):




Kaiju Busters (DS)
Nintendo Life - Lewis Cave

Kaiju Busters (or "Monster Busters" as its effective English translation goes) is just one in a long line of monster-based video games that we don’t often get to see in the West. This handheld effort from Bandai Namco inevitably draws comparisons with Capcom’s massively popular Monster Hunter games, and in that respect already has a lot going for it: an RPG set in a fantasy universe, with a plot-lite storyline and plenty of fantasy monsters to slay along the way.

With Japanese popular culture seemingly intrinsically drawn to the colossal and bizarre, it might go some way to explaining the appeal of these games in the East. Now that Nintendo has seen fit to grant the release of Capcom's Monster Hunter 3 on the Wii for the US and Europe, perhaps now is as good a time as any to take a further look into this curious sub-genre. Intriguingly, Kaiju Busters is tentatively linked to the long-standing Ultraman serials in Japan, and although the man himself doesn't make an appearance here per se, this is in fact a spin-off storyline of the recent TV series, which focuses on the exploits of the Science Patrol team. A cheap way of shoehorning in a popular licence to an otherwise simple premise perhaps, but to the unaware it shouldn't make that much difference either way.

So, with all that out of the way, what's the game actually about? The Science Patrol explores distant planets, collecting data on the inhabitants and, most crucially of all, kills a lot of strange monsters in the process. Even in the name of science, there’s some questionable motives going on here, but we’ll ignore that for now. The game opens by designing and naming your own character – a space marine whose job it will be to descend onto the unknown planets and deal out all of the disconcerting slaying. Over time you can acquire all kinds of impressive and strange suits, helmets and weapons. Most of the creatures encountered are familiar enough already, but the ultimate aim of many of the missions is to seek out and down the over-sized varieties that essentially act as the bosses of each level. As you encounter these strange beasts, they are paraded across both DS screens, just to give them an even more impressive sense of scale.

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See Also: In The Absence Of Godzilla, Japan Has Had A Real Giant Monster Boom!