Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jan 14, 2014 18:51:50 GMT -5
I'm not entirely sure if Ragone is a fan of the series either. I think the way his MST participation came about was because he provided commentary tracks for Gamera the Giant Monster and Gamera vs. Barugon when Shout released its Gamera collection, and Shout asked him if he was interested in putting together a featurette on the Sandy Frank episodes, and August jumped at the chance to talk about these often forgotten films and shows. I sent him a message after the Gamera set came out and he told me he was interested in working doing interviews on Prince of Space and Invasion of the Neptune Men too.
But as for the show, I've heard him talk about it with resentment (a small bit of it can be heard when he talks about the Heisei Gamera trilogy on the Gamera set interview) and I've heard him claim he thinks it's a lark, even though he's not crazy about it.
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Post by angilasman on Jan 14, 2014 20:05:08 GMT -5
I didn't say he was a fan, merely that he was at peace with it enough to do a little work for the DVDs. On those he spoke of the show... 'diplomatically'.
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Post by reaperg on Jan 18, 2014 11:22:23 GMT -5
Steve Ryfle is a bit of a fan and put a couple pages on the show in his book "Japan's Favorite Mon-Star". But he got a couple names wrong (Dr. Frederick Forrester, Rex Dark Eskimo Spy).
Ed Godziszewski doesn't like the show. J.D. Lees doesn't care for it much. I thought at first that Norman England dissed the show when he said the Japanese lyrics of the Jet Jaguar song were funnier than MST's (and it's a toss-up) but it turns out he is a fan.
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Post by dph on Jan 21, 2014 4:43:10 GMT -5
Didn't know if you guys noticed this, but it caught my eye the other day.
Did Shout manage to acquire the rights to Godzilla vs. Megalon? dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Mystery-Science-Theater-3000-Godzilla-vs.-Megalon/70053092?strkid=1633311897_25_2&strackid=31b832e34d968ab6_25_srl&trkid=496833
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jan 21, 2014 15:15:34 GMT -5
I'd be curious to know how long that's been there. Chances are they still have the Rhino disc available for rent, seeing how it's only available on DVD instead of streaming.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jan 21, 2014 18:05:30 GMT -5
And the wave of cash-in releases begins: Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster, Godzilla vs. Hedorah, and Godzilla vs. Gigan to be released on blu-ray by Kraken Releasing. It's odd that they'd pick up these dropped Sony titles and leave Son of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla up in the air. Perhaps they're testing the water before they pick up more titles? Or maybe they're holding off on the other two for a leter date. Son of Godzilla was my favorite of the dropped Sony titles, so I'm bummed about that one, but Mechagodzilla was my least favorite, so not crying a river about that one. Further news: Mothra is being re-released on DVD, US version only, by Mill Creek as a part of a huge licensing deal with Sony. The disc features three other Sony owned monster movies: 20 Million Miles to Earth, the Giant Claw, and It Came from Beneath the Sea. There's a lot of speculation going on as to whether this means Mill Creek could potentially release Sony's remaining Godzilla titles (the last five Heisei and all of the Millennium)., but there's no word on that front. Mill Creek has a shakey record on DVD transfers, but their history with the Kaiju genre on blu-ray is fantastic, offering outstanding and affordable sets for the Heisei Gamera trilogy and the Daimajin series. If they were to release these Godzilla titles on blu this year, I think we can expect the best. Maybe Rebirth of Mothra also. Kieth Aiken has also made claims that issues with Destroy All Monsters has been worked out with Toho and Media Blasters is aiming to re-release it this year. No word on the long delayed Godzilla vs. Megalon blu-ray. As for the long released titles in the Classic Media library, Kieth talked to Classic Media this week and they claim they're planning to re-release into stores to coincide with the new movie. But blu-ray isn't on the table. I guess their Gojira blu-ray sold really poorly. I never picked it up, but all accounts said it was awful so I'm not surprised. And finally, Godzilla 1985. Still no word. Sigh. That's my favorite too.
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Post by dph on Jan 21, 2014 18:45:22 GMT -5
I'd be curious to know how long that's been there. Chances are they still have the Rhino disc available for rent, seeing how it's only available on DVD instead of streaming. Well I'm gonna check it out. I have the ep on DVD from Sky, but I'm curious about this. I could swear it was available to stream this morning when I posted, but it could be my imagination. Great news about the Blu-Ray releases. May look into them seeing as how I have a PS3 now. Hope they do better with special features than Sony did.
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Post by angilasman on Jan 21, 2014 22:09:27 GMT -5
Good to hear.
I think a Blu re-release of the Classic Media owned licenses depends on two things:
-The new Godzilla movie being a success and/or -Another company negotiating with them to sublicense the films like Criterion did with Gojira
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jan 21, 2014 22:44:26 GMT -5
I'm hoping for the latter. I don't think CM would put much of an effort into a hidef experience if they were to release them on blu, though I do wish they'd just do their Godzilla collection on blu-ray and be done with it.
I'm hoping with Legendary's new distribution deal with Universal might lead to a quality blu-ray release of King Kong vs. Godzilla too, especially if the deal gives Universal rights to any sequel to the new movie (it's a Legendary project and not a Warner, so there's a chance).
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jan 24, 2014 19:23:56 GMT -5
More DVD news is rolling in. Kieth Aiken states that the release date for the Sea Monster/Hedorah/Gigan discs is May 6th, ten days before the new movie comes out. Coming even sooner is the first known Godzilla release from Mill Creek. Which movie is it? It isn't. It's the 1998 Godzilla animated tie-in series with the previous American film. For those interested, it's up on Amazon with the ultra cheap price of $9.98 for the entire series and a street date of April 29th.
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Post by dph on Jan 25, 2014 8:37:36 GMT -5
After you mentioned the BD releases of Daimajin and Gamera from Millcreek, I decided to check them out on Amazon. I believe both were around the $10 area, so I bought them, and with a Prime Trial, got them in two days. So far I've watched the Daimajin series. I am just floored that this is the same studio that made Gamera vs. Barugon that year. The picture is beautiful and the SFX rival what Toho put out in the 90's let alone what was coming out at that time. Ifukube's score is nice and I think puts a good finishing touch on three stunning movies.
Did see a couple of Gamera veterans in the second two, as well as a face I recognized from Yokia Monsters.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Jan 25, 2014 14:21:05 GMT -5
I know, right? Deiei really proved me wrong by actually making a good kaiju feature in the 1960s. And the music surprised me. After I heard the opening notes I said to myself "That sounds like Ifukube." I watched the credits for the composer's name and was floored to find that it actually was Ifukube. Great investment.
Semi-related, I just picked up Mill Creek's first season of Bewitched for a cool five bucks. Since it's a part of Sony's deal with them, I thought it would be interesting to see (that and I've been wanting to pick this series up for a while). Judging from this release, I'm guessing the masters for Godzilla: The Series will be taken directly from Sony and look pretty good, though Mill Creek's habit of cramming as much as they can onto one disc could take its toll on the picture. This set was three discs, twelve episodes per disc. I don't think I've ever seen a disc that loaded before. I imagine Godzilla: The Series will wind up the same.
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Post by reaperg on Jan 26, 2014 10:25:36 GMT -5
Speaking of Ifukube, here's his music conducted by the other great Godzilla composer, Masaru Sato:
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Post by angilasman on Jan 26, 2014 11:59:56 GMT -5
^He was also Akira Kurosawa's go-to composer for a long time!
Kurosawa and Ifukube did one film together, apparently didn't get along.
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Post by dph on Jan 27, 2014 20:51:17 GMT -5
Well I added Godzilla vs. Megalon MST3K version to my DVD Queue on Netflix and moved it to number one, now I find they've moved further down my list, and Godzilla vs. Megalon has been put on "Very Long Wait" status.
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