Omni Productions

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Omni Productions is a Hong Kong-based dubbing company founded by Rik Thomas and hired by Toho to dub the majority of the kaiju films they produced in the 1990's into English.[1] Omni Productions is not credited in any of these films; the only evidence of their involvement comes from correspondence between kaiju historian Steve Ryfle and voice actor Craig Allen.[2] All of their dubs for Toho's kaiju films are included on the U.S. home video releases of the films, with the exception of Godzilla 2000: Millennium.

Omni Productions may have dubbed Godzilla vs. Biollante and Yamato Takeru, as well as the Millennium Godzilla films from Godzilla vs. Megaguirus to Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., as some of the company's voice actors are included in these dubs, but these titles have yet to be confirmed. Rik Thomas has since sold the company to an unknown party and retired to Penang, Malaysia.[citation needed]

Films Dubbed

Godzilla Series

Mothra Series

Voice Actors Employed

  • Craig Allen
  • Simon Broad
  • Jack Murphy
  • John Culkin
  • Chris Hilton
  • Andrea Kwan
  • Darren Pleavin
  • Rik Thomas
  • Pierre Tremblay
  • Sue Brooks
  • Warwick Evans
  • Warren Rooke

Alterations

Toho had minimal contact with Omni Productions after commissioning each dub. As voice actor Craig Allen explained:

I will plead guilty to charges of lack of familiarity of with the story of each film. All the English script-writer gets is a translation of the Japanese; there's no briefing on the background or history of the stories, or anything like that. So sometimes he doesn't fully comprehend what's supposed to be happening, and sometimes we have to make last-minute changes to the script in the studio...I know we sometimes get the details wrong.

As a result, there are numerous moments throughout Omni dubs where names and dialogue are significantly altered.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

  • In the Japanese dialogue, when Emmy Kano is brought back to MOTHER by M-11 and talks with Wilson and Glenchico, Wilson asks Emmy what the Japanese government plans to use to resist them and she says, "Anything," adding that they won't lay down for them just because they're from the future. In the English dub, Wilson simply asks if the Japanese government is going to resist them at all, with Emmy responding, "Of course not. The Japanese government's not stupid. They know they can't fight us with our advanced weapons."

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II

  • Rodan is referred to as "Radon," his Japanese name.
  • BabyGodzilla is said to be a "Godzillasaur" rather than a Godzillasaurus.
  • After Azusa Gojo gets off the phone with Professor Omae in the scene where she and Kazuma Aoki first meet, instead of asking for a small piece of the eggshell as he does in the original Japanese dialogue, Kazuma asks to meet the professor.
  • The explanation for why Godzilla appears in Kyoto is changed. In the English dub, BabyGodzilla is said to be calling Godzilla, while in the original Japanese dialogue, it is said that Godzilla is sensing his presence via telepathy.
  • Kazuma's conversation with Azusa when he enters the room with BabyGodzilla's enclosure with his Pteranodon Robot is changed. Originally, when he enters the room, Aoki calls Azusa "Miss Ah," and Azusa asks why he called her that. Kazuma explains "Your name is Azusa, I'll call you Miss Ah," and Azusa responds with "Our relationship is not that close." In the dub, however, Kazuma says "Hey, babe!" Azusa asks "What is that?," referring to the Pteranodon Robot, and Kazuma responds with "This is my new limousine." Azusa then says "And you can cut out the babe business!," and Kazuma apologizes.
  • In the original Japanese dialogue, Azusa asks Miki Saegusa to use the plant's music to get Baby to understand that he has to go with Godzilla. In the dub, Azusa asks Miki to use her telepathy to make Godzilla understand that he needs to take Baby with him.

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla

  • Birth Island is referred to as "Bass Island," or "Baas Island" as the subtitles on TriStar's DVD for the film spell it.

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

  • Destoroyah is called "Destroyer."
  • Like the English dub for the previous film, Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, Birth Island is called "Bass Island."
  • The explanation for Burning Godzilla's condition is completely different. In the Japanese version, it is said to be a condition that's been building within him for a month before the film's story begins and it was his power that destroyed Birth Island; in the English dub, it's said that Birth Island was destroyed by a discharge of pure uranium and that explosion of incredible radioactivity is what turned Godzilla into Burning Godzilla.
  • When it becomes apparent that Godzilla will meltdown rather than explode in the Japanese version, Kenichi Yamane says that the nuclear fission within him is taking hold; while in the English dub, he says "We managed to control the fission, but his reactor must be breaking up."
  • In the English dub, the reason Secretary Kunitomo visits Kenichi is to ask him to come work at the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center, with Kenichi initially refusing and saying that studying Godzilla is nothing more than a hobby to him. In the Japanese dialogue, he not only insists that he wants to continue studying Godzilla no matter what but also says that he'll make his findings public at a big news conference for all of those who maintain the "Japanese misconceptions."
  • In the dub, Kenichi says that he initially sent his theory on Godzilla to the Japanese G-Center but they ignored it, which forced him to send it to the United States, while in the original Japanese dialogue, he says that he sent it to the Godzilla Center in the United States because that one is "always open."
  • In the dub, Dr. Kensaku Ijuin says that he actually made reference to Dr. Daisuke Serizawa's research, even though, as Emiko Yamane says in both versions, Serizawa destroyed all of his notes before allowing the Oxygen Destroyer to be used.
  • Meru Ozawa tells Miki Saegusa that she is a paleontologist, while in the Japanese dialogue, she says her American ESP school "dragged us to a lot of dinosaur sites."
  • Sho Kuroki's line "Our budget for next year is zero yen. Then again, there might not be a next year." is replaced with "Let's go freeze that overgrown lizard. This is gonna make my day."
  • When Kenichi suggests allowing Godzilla and Destoroyah to fight each other in the Japanese dialogue, Commander Aso shoots down his idea and Kunitomo tells him that he'd better be sure of his plan before he feels comfortable to risk people's lives in doing so. This prompts Kenichi to berate both of them. In the English dub, Aso calls his plan preposterous but Kunitomo says "Maybe it's not so preposterous. Maybe he's got something there." Despite this, Kenichi still impertinently tells them that they must put this plan into motion, with Kunitomo now suddenly having a change of emotion when he asks, "Yes, but how are we going to get them to fight each other?"

Rebirth of Mothra I, II, and III

  • Mothra Leo is referred to as female in the first film, male in the second, and female again in the third. Garu Garu is referred to as "Gagaru." Moll is referred to as "Mona."
  • In Rebirth of Mothra II, Ghogo is referred to as "Gorgo."

Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

  • A man wishes mobilizing JSDF soldiers good luck. A woman next to him then sarcastically exclaims "Yes, good luck everyone! You're going to die!." In the original Japanese dialogue, the man speaks a foreign language, and the woman merely interprets the man's speech into Japanese.
  • When King Ghidorah is accidentally struck by a D-03 Missile intended for Godzilla, Lieutenant Miyashita strangely shouts "Got it!” in the English dub, rather than an expletive equivalent to "Shit!" or "Fuck!" as in the original Japanese dialogue.

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

  • Kiryu is referred to as "Mecha G." This change also occurs in Toho's English subtitled prints of the film, and was likely deliberately done to avoid confusing viewers who had not seen Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, which established this Mechagodzilla's name as Kiryu.

Videos

Compilation of Rik Thomas roles
Compilation of Chris Hilton roles
Compilation of Craig Allen roles

Trivia

  • Omni Productions recorded two English dubs for Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, with their second attempt recorded in 1998 being featured on TriStar Pictures' home video releases of the film, and the majority of the original dub never seeing release.[3]
  • According to Mike Schlesinger, who supervised the U.S. release of Godzilla 2000: Millennium, TriStar Pictures was provided with Omni Productions' English dub of the film, but he felt it was so bad it was unusable and opted instead to completely re-dub the film with different actors. Omni Productions' dub has never been released in any format.
    • When TriStar began including the original Japanese audio tracks with their DVD releases, the English subtitles they included were usually just taken directly from Omni Productions' dubs, often referred to as "dubtitles" by fans, rather than using actual translations of the Japanese audio. This can become obvious when characters speak English in the films, while the subtitles feature different dialogue than what is said onscreen, or when subtitles are included for lines of dialogue that only appear in the dubs. Sony later corrected this for some of their later Blu-ray releases of the films, including all-new translations of the Japanese audio.
  • Some of Omni Productions' voice actors, including company founder Rik Thomas, appear in the international dub for Godzilla: Final Wars, however the company credited for dubbing the film into English is Red Angel Media.

References

This is a list of references for Omni Productions. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

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