A Kaiju Fan's Guide to Godzilla Video Tapes Available in the United Kingdom
by
John Rocco Roberto
While most of Godzilla's latest adventures remained in limbo in the
United States during the early part of the 1990s, fans of the King of the
Monster in Great Britain had several choices to choose from. Of the
original Showa series, most of the films were, and are, available on PAL
VHS tapes. The versions of these films differ from their American counterparts,
mainly because these tapes featured the "International" versions of the
films, dubbed by Toho in wide screen, and not suffering from the numerous
edits inflicted on them by the American distributors. While the dubbing
on some of these transfers leaves a lot to be desired, especially when
compared with the always excellent American International releases, British
fans of the Showa series could enjoy Son of Godzilla presented in
wide screen with the pre-credit opening sequence (featuring the military plane
sequence), un-cut. Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (titled Ebriah
Horror Of The Deep) contains the full opening sequence including Masaru
Sato's complete score. Terror of MechaGodziila, also presented
in wide screen, is completely un-cut, allowing fans to experience Honda's
original vision of the film (the current Media Classic's U.S.
release features all the violence cut from it). Another example
is Godzilla vs Megalon, which also has it's full credit sequence
and is uncut (an uncut version was briefly released in the U.S in the early
1990s, but was quickly replaced with the standard cut version Americans
have had to suffer with for years). In addition several of these films
were offered as either "double," or "triple packs," and included Son
of Godzilla / Terror of MechaGodziila Double Pack, and Godzilla vs
Gigan / Godzilla vs Megalon / Destroy All Monsters Triple Pack.
In 1995 Manga Video of the U.K. became the first company to released
English dubbed version of two Heisei films, Godzilla vs. King Ghidora
and Godzilla vs. Mothra on June 5 and July 3 respectively. Manga
Video's version of Godzilla vs. King Ghidora is complete, the source
material drawn from an international print that Toho had dubbed for export.
Missing, though, are the Toho logo and a special logo announcing Toho's
60th Anniversary, of which Godzilla vs. King Ghidora was the
centerpiece. The colorful title is retained, with a white English
title superimposed centrally over it, while the opening credits are in
English, presented in the same font used for the international version of
Godzilla vs. Biollante that HBO/Miramax released to home video.
The "computer" dates shown in the film, "2204 A.D." and "1992 A.D." are
retained, but the Japanese translations below these dates were removed and
replaced with English translations, unlike the Columbia/TriStar version.
Of course, the film is in mono, but the picture is letter boxed and the color
is as good as Toho's videocassette and laser discs. The dubbing is
the same as in the Columbia/TriStar version, as are the three musical changes
noted by Robert Biondi (see the "Godzilla In America' series of articles
for a complete run down on the differences between the Japanese and American
versions of the Godzilla films). However, the closing credit sequence
is intact, featuring full English translated credits.
Godzilla vs. Mothra is treated much the same way, the only difference is that the opening Toho logo is missing, and that a white English title is superimposed centrally over the Japanese title. The Manga videocassette also feature an English dubbed Japanese trailer for Godzilla vs. Mothra. Yet one wonders which film this trailer was about, since the narrator asks: "Will the Earth be ripped about by Mothra? Or will Godzilla once more save the day?" Another questioning point, is that the trailer for Godzilla vs Mothra is on the Godzilla vs Mothra video tape.
In 1998 distributors began packaging Tri-Star's Godzilla with other "block busters" from the U.S., including a Mask Of Zorro, / Hook / Godzilla Triple Pack, and a Mask Of Zorro / Godzilla Double Pack. Direct PAL versions are available from several video importers both here and in England.