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User talk:Ani Mate, the One-Headed Human
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Hey, you appear to know quite a bit about home video releases from what I've seen in your post. I was wondering if you knew were the only uncut VHS releases of Godzilla vs. Megalon and Terror of Mechagodzilla that were dubbed the UK videos or did either one ever have an official VHS release at some point or another in the US? It appears that the chances of either of them are slim, but I've heard rumors about them before and I didn't know if there was ever in truth to any of that or not.
Thanks,
From what I could gather from your post, it seems that you’re talking about the Polygram VHS tapes for Godzilla vs. Megalon and Terror of Mechagodzilla which were both released in the UK in the 1990s, both use International prints of the films (with the removal of the Toho logos) including their English dubs (Megalon’s dub by Atlas International and Terror’s dub either by Barry Haigh or Matthew Oram’s dubbing company). I don’t think those versions of the films were ever released in the US on VHS.
Due to the whole Megalon copyright fiasco the main version of that film was the “second-run” Cinema Shares version though the International version of the film would air on the Sci-Fi Channel in the 2000s.
As for Terror, the main versions of that film in the US were either versions based on the Bob Conn release or versions based on the original UPA TV release. A theatrical run for Bob Conn’s “The Terror of Godzilla” version was uncut and apparently released alongside their heavily edited version of the film. UPA TV’s original version of the film included an extended prologue with stock footage from Astro-Monster and All Monsters Attack, apart from that the only cut they made to the film was removing the scene where Katsura’s breast is exposed while the Black Hole Planet 3 Aliens perform surgery on her.
That's what I thought thanks and that's one of the main highlights of the UK VHS releases, yes there were two in a set of seven, Polygram released them in 1992 on double feature tapes and 4 Front re-released them in 1998 separately. Speaking of which I also wanted to ask do you know the what the best quality home video transfer releases are for the US edits of Godzilla on Monster Island, Godzilla vs. Megalon, Godzilla vs. the Cosmic Monster and Terror of Mechagodzilla? I've been building my own Godzilla versions library and wanted to know what the best sources for those would be.
Also I had a bonus question, could you identify this one Megalon tape for me. I've been trying to find out more about it and it's probably the rarest US copy I could find. It comes and goes from eBay all the time and no one really talks about it like the year or distributor? I don't think it's the uncut version but I just wanted to double check that as well.
That VHS tape for Godzilla vs. Megalon is most likely an unlicensed release. Like I said, because of the whole copyright fiasco with this film, a lot of small companies would release the Cinema Shares “second run” of the film under the assumption that the film was under the public domain. Though the running time for this specific tape states it’s 80 minutes, the Japanese version is 81 minutes while the Cinema Shares “second run” version is 78 minutes, so I’d say that this version of the film is based on the Cinema Shares “first run” version of the film, the only edit that Cinema Shares made to this version was shortening the credits.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any home video release for Godzilla on Monster Island, I do know however that the Monster Island version of Gigan was shown on television syndication throughout the 1980s, though the International versions would become more available in the US around 1988 when a version based on the original International print was released by New World.
The US edit of Godzilla vs. Megalon is even more difficult due to all the unlicensed VHS tapes out there, even when these fly-by-night companies released them onto DVD in the 2000s they still used the crappy VHS quality transfers. There’s also the matter of which Cinema Shares version you want, since there is “first run” edit (only cutting the credits) and the “second run” edit (the more common cut of the Cinema Shares version, made to appease the MPAA).
For Godzilla vs. The Cosmic Monster, I’d probably say the best home video release of that film would be any US VHS tape made before New World’s release. Any VHS version for Comsic Monster should crop the title card (removing the poster artwork from the logo) but apart from that it would pretty much be the same.
Terror of Mechagodzilla is also a confusing case. A lot of companies (including UPA themselves) would either base their release on Bob Conn’s theatrical “The Terror of Godzilla” version or the original UPA TV version. I don’t think that “The Terror of Godzilla” edit was ever released in it’s original Bob Conn version on home video and instead would be an edited version based on it (hence why this movie has so many US titles). As for UPA’s original TV edit of the film, your best bet would probably be the Classic Media DVD release for the film which contains the Japanese version of the film as well as a remastered version of the UPA TV edit.
There are some 16 mm prints out their for some of these films, but I’ve only mentioned this as an extra since they don’t count as home video.
Update: As it turns out, there is a Canadian VHS for Godzilla on Monster Island, though I hear it’s pretty rare.
Godzilla vs. the Cosmic Monster actually has UK VHS released by Hokushin Audio Video Ltd.
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