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Post #970504

Author
God Save Pop Punk
Parent topic
Godzilla 1985 - Reconstruction Project (Released)
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/970504/action/topic#970504
Date created
16-Jul-2016, 11:29 PM

A little late updating this thread, but…

Godzilla 1985 v1.5 is available now!

A 720p proof-of-concept reconstruction of Godzilla 1985 featuring material sourced from a 35mm release print is completed and available to download! Check the spleen or send a private message for details.

Notes on this version:

  • The 35mm test scans were used for anything that differs from or is not present in the Japanese version of the film, including new scenes, titles/credits, opticals, subtitled Russian dialogue, and textless Japanese footage. No SD video from the Monsters HD broadcast recording remains.
  • Bambi Meets Godzilla is included here, as in the original theatrical release.
  • The soundtrack is sourced from the Image Laserdisc, which also served as a reference for synchronization. Small amounts of missing audio around reel changes were reinstated from the MHD/v1.0. The short’s audio and the Godzilla roar over the New World logo are from the test scan.
  • This version is 720p as opposed to 1080p. This is because the 1080p test scans captured the entire height of the frame, including open-matte US footage, leaving the dimensions of the area actually projected – the 1.85:1 frame – closer to 720p.

Hope you guys like this version! Servanov and I have a more ambitious project involving this new material in the works; there’ll probably be a dedicated thread for that once it’s closer to completion.

Toho Kingdom thread

Original post:

I’m sure most of the people reading this post are probably Godzilla fans or at least vaguely aware of the history of this film, but for anyone who doesn’t know:

Godzilla 1985 is the edited US version of the 1984 Godzilla series reboot The Return of Godzilla. Aside from dubbing the film into English, American distributor New World Pictures shortened or cut numerous scenes, added several music cues from the Def-Con 4 score by Christopher Young, altered the film’s Cold War themes to exhibit a distinctly anti-Soviet slant, and shot new scenes featuring American actors (and numerous Dr. Pepper product placements, part of a deal that combined New World’s marketing with an existing Dr. Pepper ad campaign featuring Godzilla, which also produced a bizarre promotional music video with scenes from the movie set to Dr. Pepper’s then-current advertising jingle). This version is perhaps most notable (and fondly regarded by fans) for Raymond Burr’s reprisal of his role as American journalist Steve Martin, who was inserted into the original Godzilla in a similar fashion.

This film has long been out of print in the US, having only been issued a handful of times on VHS between its original theatrical release and the late 1990s. The Return of Godzilla, thankfully, has recently been picked up by Kraken Releasing, an imprint of Section23, for a DVD/Blu-ray release in September. However, this release will not include the US cut of the film, due to royalty issues concerning the added music cues from Def-Con 4. No doubt these issues could be sorted out, but Kraken, being a budget label aimed at casual shoppers, can’t be bothered.

The only options available to anyone wishing to see the film, therefore, are aging pan-and-scan VHS tapes, or low-quality, standard definition recordings of a 2006 Monsters HD broadcast of the film. A 1080i recording has been rumored to be out there somewhere for years, but if it exists, the person said to own it has explicitly refused to share it. The standard definition copies suffer from numerous digital artifacts, interlacing, and also lack subtitles for the Russian dialogue. Basically, there are few options, and no good ones.

I intend to change that by undertaking a project along the lines of Harmy’s Despecialized Editions, assembling the best possible copy of the film from various sources.

What this will entail is taking the best known copy of the American version of the film, the anamorphic recording of the Monsters HD broadcast from 2006, and utilizing the soundtrack and American footage from that recording while substituting video from higher-quality Japanese sources wherever possible. I’ve already obtained a doctored copy of the MHD recording from Echo3, who’s made some adjustments to the video and improved its quality to a more acceptable level, and I’ll be using this copy as the source for the US material. Kraken’s Blu-ray will be my source for the Japanese footage. The trickiest part will most likely be recreating the English subtitles for the Russian dialogue. Since these are missing in the Monsters HD version, and I know of no reference material for how they appeared in theatrical prints, I’ll be using the home video version of the film as a reference for the appearance, placement and timing of the subtitles until a better reference miraculously appears.

My plan is basically this: Once I obtain the Monsters HD source, I’ll start by conducting a sort of standard definition test run using an old bootleg sourced from Toho’s R2 as my source for the Japanese footage. This will be a rough pass to acquaint myself with the work that needs to be done, and will involve minimal, if any, color correction or other in-depth work. We’ll call that version 0.5.

Once the Kraken Blu-ray is out, I’ll begin work on version 1.0, which will likely be similar to 0.5, only in HD and with more work done on the sources, including basic color correction where applicable and possibly attempting to enhance the upscaled MHD footage to make it fit better alongside the HD Japanese footage.

After this, further revisions might be made to improve subtler aspects of the film. A few things I can think of include creating custom shapes to enhance/sharpen the edges of the areas through which flames are visible in the opening credits, recreating the text of the opening credits, adding appropriate amounts of telecine wobble to the subtitles to match the footage behind them, and recreating the end credits from scratch in HD. I’m not completely certain I’ll do all of these things, but it’s a possibility.

If anyone can lend advice or suggestions on some of the finer points of encoding, color correction, image enhancement or other related aspects of the project, I’m all ears - this is the first project of this kind I’ve attempted, so any guidance is greatly appreciated. I’ll also probably need a few test viewers to help check for problems and make sure the quality’s achieving high enough standards.

If any of you are on Toho Kingdom, you can see my original thread for this project on that board here. I’ll probably be keeping a closer eye on that thread, but I’ll be checking in here too, and any major updates will be posted in both threads.

Announcement of v0.5:

The 720p preliminary test version of Godzilla 1985 is completed and available to download! Send a private message for details.

Notes on this version:

  • The recording of the MHD I have starts a few frames into the New World logo; this version starts there as well, but v1.0 will have the complete logo, sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray rip of another New World movie.
  • The Japanese footage is sourced from a 720p recording of a TV broadcast, which means that a small movie camera station logo is visible in the lower right.
  • There are a few minor problem frames in this version that will be rectified in v1.0, the full HD version.
  • While most of the film is accurate frame-for-frame, some minor differences in the timing of cuts and reel changes between the Toho and MHD transfers means that some shots will be about a frame out of sync - this isn’t noticeable while watching, though.
  • The subtitles for the Russian dialogue in this version are not precise recreations of the theatrical subtitles, but v1.0 will feature more accurate recreations based on the Australian VHS rip provided by Tamura from Toho Kingdom.

The 1080p v1.0 will be created and released in the fall, using Japanese footage sourced from the upcoming Kraken Blu-ray of The Return of Godzilla.

Announcement of v0.6:

The revised 720p test version of Godzilla 1985 is completed and available to download! Send a private message for details.

Notes on this version:

  • The New World logo now starts from the beginning and is sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray rip of Creepshow 2, another New World movie.
  • The couple of remaining single-frame problems with v0.5 are corrected in this version.
  • The color matching on some of the masking jobs has been improved.
  • The added credits at the end listing my sources and special thanks now run a bit longer as a result of adding several people to the latter category - if you posted here or inquired about a download prior to when I rendered this version, keep an eye out for your username!
  • The subtitles still aren’t precise recreations of the theatrical subtitles and the occasional one- or two-frame image sync discrepancies are still present. The subtitles will be redone for v1.0, the full HD version, but there’s not really a way around the latter issue (thankfully it’s not noticeable while simply watching the movie).

The 1080p v1.0 will be created and released in the fall, using Japanese footage sourced from the upcoming Kraken Blu-ray of The Return of Godzilla.

Announcement of v1.0:

The full 1080p reconstruction of Godzilla 1985 is completed and available to download! Send a private message for details.

Notes on this version:

  • The Japanese footage was sourced from the Kraken Releasing Blu-ray as opposed to the TV broadcast recording used for previous versions, so the TV station icon is no longer there.
  • The Toho transfer has had its contrast adjusted to help alleviate the issues with the black levels and also been slightly color corrected.
  • The opening credits have been stabilized somewhat.
  • The English subtitles for the Russian dialogue have been carefully digitally recreated based on an Australian VHS rip that featured the original optical subtitles.
  • The stock footage from Godzilla, King of the Monsters! is sourced from the Criterion Blu-ray on this version.
  • Grain has been applied to the entire project to help the standard-definition US footage blend a bit better with the HD Japanese footage.

Hope you all enjoy it! Keep an eye out for the Grindhouse-style double feature presentation of KotM and this film with a few added bonuses! Given the decreased response on OT, I’ll probably mostly be promoting and updating on Toho Kingdom in the future, but I’ll definitely post here when it’s available! In the meantime, feel free to keep an eye on my blog at http://redmenaceofficial.tumblr.com/ for further updates and information.