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Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster - US version HD reconstruction (Released)

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 (Edited)

ghidrah

The Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster reconstruction is available now!

The 1080p HD reconstruction of the original US version of Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster is completed and available to download! Have a look on the spleen or send a private message for details.

Notes on this release:

  • The Toho transfer had its contrast and saturation boosted slightly in order to alleviate its rather flat appearance.
  • While a “first draft” of the project was prepared using the Classic Media DVD recreation of the US version as a reference, it was revised using a VHS rip, meaning that the numerous errors in the CM version are corrected here.
  • A sound synchronization error, present in all available versions of the dub, that affected much of the scene of Naoko and Shindo at home and extended into the What Are They Doing Now?/”Call Happiness” scene, has been corrected.
  • The audio for the US version was largely sourced from a PAL DVD released by an Australian company called Siren. This DVD featured an original scan of a 16mm TV print, meaning it had higher sound quality than any other available source, all other releases being made from an old videotape master. However, the Siren version is full of splices and gaps in the audio as well as some audio distortion, so many small portions of the soundtrack had to be carefully patched using the audio from the Classic Media DVD.
  • The Walter Reade Organization logo was reinstated before the title card. The version used here was in effect a collaborative effort: The icon and text were recreated by Video Collector, and placed/scaled using an actual image of the logo. The recreation made by goji1986 from Toho Kingdom for his Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster reconstruction was used as a reference for the starfield; I made the background.
  • The original “The End” title card was recreated using the Siren DVD as a reference; its “stretched” appearance (similar to the opening credits) is apparently how it really would have appeared in a scope print.

Merry Christmas, folks!

Original post:

I’m currently working on an HD reconstruction of the re-cut, dubbed US version of Ghidrah the Three-Headed Monster, released by Walter Reade-Sterling. I’ll be using a bootleg copy of the Japanese Blu-ray as my primary video source and using the Classic Media DVD recreation of the US version as my primary reference and audio source, while also correcting a couple of editing and audio sync errors in that version.

I managed to get about halfway through syncing the HD video before Vegas became unusable due to repeated freezing, crashing, and misreading the file I remuxed the Blu-ray video into for editing, so I muxed a new file with a different program and started over. I’m just shy of a half-hour into the movie at this point, though thanks to the shuffling of scenes in the US version it’s not always possible to be precise about how far through it I am. After that, I’ll have to recreate the English credits (including reinstating the Walter Reade-Sterling logo in place of the Toho Scope logo that Classic Media haphazardly inserted at the beginning), which ought to be relatively simple.

I’m hoping to have this out by Christmas, and given how simple the project is overall and how it’s going so far, I’m reasonably confident I can manage that. After that I plan to do an HD version of Monster Zero for release hopefully sometime in January, then reconstructions of Godzilla vs. the Thing, Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster, the US TV version of Son of Godzilla and finally (for shits and giggles, since someone sent me the Simitar DVD) Godzilla’s Revenge throughout the rest of 2017. There’ll probably be more after that; that’s just all I have planned at the moment.

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This sounds cool. Over at the Spleen I uploaded my Anchor Bay Widescreen VHS version. The capture turned out rather well.

This will be cool to see.

😃

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Well, I’ve finished recreating the opening credits and added the finishing touches to the whole project. All that’s left now is rendering and testing. I’m planning to approach the actual release in a slightly more organized fashion this time around; I plan to render and upload both the MP4 and MKV versions between now and Christmas, then publish the download links on Christmas morning. (I’m also waiting on some Blu-ray art from Video Collector; I’d like to be able to include those with the initial release this time, which is another reason I’m not just putting this project up right away.)

In the meantime, I’ll probably be uploading a couple more BTS-type videos, so keep an eye out for those!

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You are my hero. I have been craving HD versions of those US versions. I tried to do my own HD restoration of Zero, but had major problems with frame dropping/ judder.

check out a sample here https://www.dropbox.com/s/qy6p3vgj3urb899/Invasion Of Astro-monster (1965).m4v?dl=0

I was also very distracted by a problem with the japanese HD copy. It has a problem with every edit in the film print they used.

Warning, once you see it, it cant be unseen, as it plagues the entire movie. Look at the bottom of the frame.

http://i.imgur.com/n72YmNT.png

aka nostromo777 on myspleen

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Ah, those splices? It’s not the only one of these films that’s got that going on; the same thing shows up on the Toho transfers of Godzilla vs. Megalon and Godzilla 2000, possibly others. Wish I could do something about that. Might be fixable in relatively static shots, we’ll see.

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 (Edited)

The “splices” are just the physical glue marks that were used to edit the negative together. They’re just visible in the HDTV transfer because of how much picture information was saved. There is nothing unusual about them and erasure is not a good idea (The Blu-Ray does this anyway).

Also, any restoration of Monster Zero using a Japanese source is a fool’s errand because all Japanese film sources of the uncut version are inherently INFERIOR to the domestic U.S. elements (which are in desperate need of a re-scan a la the Classic Media Gargantuas).

The uncut camera negative of Monster Zero doesn’t exist anymore. The uncut version Toho uses for video is a foreign element several generations removed from the OCN and it has stabilization and fading problems.

Using the Classic Media reconstruction of Ghidrah is a fool’s errand as well (I realize you acknowledge the sync errors, but there are unnoticeable visual ones as well). It’s not very accurate and pretty clumsy at times. If you want to carefully re-create Ghidrah, use an original 16mm source like I did for my SD reconstructions. Also, the best (incomplete) source for the audio is the 16mm print on the Australian Siren Entertainment DVD since it’s not an old 1 inch tape master.

Ghidrah also has a shot that’s longer than in any existing Japanese source (a shot of Infant Island when the Shobijin summon Mothra).

The end title you did is pretty good (nice work removing the “Owari”), but it’s not accurate. The 8mm Ken Films 'scope version of Ghidrah shows that the end title is supposed to be stretched to widescreen:
https://s30.postimg.org/gnizs8k4x/vlcsnap_2016_12_17_09h02m32s183.png

I made that mistake myself when I did my reconstruction. I’ve since corrected it:
https://s29.postimg.org/qrvkj7vc7/vlcsnap_2016_12_17_09h05m34s217.png

BoxMonster and I collaborated on a version of the opening credits in 720p with fake gate weave and grain for the freeze frames and a font that’s very similar to the original. I still have the .mov he sent me.

So, a new book came out and we learned so much, and it is called, “Anguilosaurus, Killer of the Living”.

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Time

Space Hunter M said:

The “splices” are just the physical glue marks that were used to edit the negative together. They’re just visible in the HDTV transfer because of how much picture information was saved. There is nothing unusual about them and erasure is not a good idea (The Blu-Ray does this anyway).

Also, any restoration of Monster Zero using a Japanese source is a fool’s errand because all Japanese film sources of the uncut version are inherently INFERIOR to the domestic U.S. elements (which are in desperate need of a re-scan a la the Classic Media Gargantuas).

The uncut camera negative of Monster Zero doesn’t exist anymore. The uncut version Toho uses for video is a foreign element several generations removed from the OCN and it has stabilization and fading problems.

Using the Classic Media reconstruction of Ghidrah is a fool’s errand as well (I realize you acknowledge the sync errors, but there are unnoticeable visual ones as well). It’s not very accurate and pretty clumsy at times. If you want to carefully re-create Ghidrah, use an original 16mm source like I did for my SD reconstructions. Also, the best (incomplete) source for the audio is the 16mm print on the Australian Siren Entertainment DVD since it’s not an old 1 inch tape master.

Ghidrah also has a shot that’s longer than in any existing Japanese source (a shot of Infant Island when the Shobijin summon Mothra).

The end title you did is pretty good (nice work removing the “Owari”), but it’s not accurate. The 8mm Ken Films 'scope version of Ghidrah shows that the end title is supposed to be stretched to widescreen:
https://s30.postimg.org/gnizs8k4x/vlcsnap_2016_12_17_09h02m32s183.png

I made that mistake myself when I did my reconstruction. I’ve since corrected it:
https://s29.postimg.org/qrvkj7vc7/vlcsnap_2016_12_17_09h05m34s217.png

BoxMonster and I collaborated on a version of the opening credits in 720p with fake gate weave and grain for the freeze frames and a font that’s very similar to the original. I still have the .mov he sent me.

What about the Ghidrah Anchor Bay VHS release I uploaded to the spleen? Would that be of any use?

Author
Time

Jetrell Fo said:

Space Hunter M said:

The “splices” are just the physical glue marks that were used to edit the negative together. They’re just visible in the HDTV transfer because of how much picture information was saved. There is nothing unusual about them and erasure is not a good idea (The Blu-Ray does this anyway).

Also, any restoration of Monster Zero using a Japanese source is a fool’s errand because all Japanese film sources of the uncut version are inherently INFERIOR to the domestic U.S. elements (which are in desperate need of a re-scan a la the Classic Media Gargantuas).

The uncut camera negative of Monster Zero doesn’t exist anymore. The uncut version Toho uses for video is a foreign element several generations removed from the OCN and it has stabilization and fading problems.

Using the Classic Media reconstruction of Ghidrah is a fool’s errand as well (I realize you acknowledge the sync errors, but there are unnoticeable visual ones as well). It’s not very accurate and pretty clumsy at times. If you want to carefully re-create Ghidrah, use an original 16mm source like I did for my SD reconstructions. Also, the best (incomplete) source for the audio is the 16mm print on the Australian Siren Entertainment DVD since it’s not an old 1 inch tape master.

Ghidrah also has a shot that’s longer than in any existing Japanese source (a shot of Infant Island when the Shobijin summon Mothra).

The end title you did is pretty good (nice work removing the “Owari”), but it’s not accurate. The 8mm Ken Films 'scope version of Ghidrah shows that the end title is supposed to be stretched to widescreen:
https://s30.postimg.org/gnizs8k4x/vlcsnap_2016_12_17_09h02m32s183.png

I made that mistake myself when I did my reconstruction. I’ve since corrected it:
https://s29.postimg.org/qrvkj7vc7/vlcsnap_2016_12_17_09h05m34s217.png

BoxMonster and I collaborated on a version of the opening credits in 720p with fake gate weave and grain for the freeze frames and a font that’s very similar to the original. I still have the .mov he sent me.

What about the Ghidrah Anchor Bay VHS release I uploaded to the spleen? Would that be of any use?

Your capture is unmistakably better PQ-wise, but I’ve had my own rip of the Anchor Bay tape to work with for quite some time. I also have a hi8 recording of a Disney Channel airing of the same video master.

So, a new book came out and we learned so much, and it is called, “Anguilosaurus, Killer of the Living”.

Author
Time

Space Hunter M said:

Using the Classic Media reconstruction of Ghidrah is a fool’s errand as well (I realize you acknowledge the sync errors, but there are unnoticeable visual ones as well). It’s not very accurate and pretty clumsy at times. If you want to carefully re-create Ghidrah, use an original 16mm source like I did for my SD reconstructions. Also, the best (incomplete) source for the audio is the 16mm print on the Australian Siren Entertainment DVD since it’s not an old 1 inch tape master.

Ghidrah also has a shot that’s longer than in any existing Japanese source (a shot of Infant Island when the Shobijin summon Mothra).

The end title you did is pretty good (nice work removing the “Owari”), but it’s not accurate. The 8mm Ken Films 'scope version of Ghidrah shows that the end title is supposed to be stretched to widescreen:

BoxMonster and I collaborated on a version of the opening credits in 720p with fake gate weave and grain for the freeze frames and a font that’s very similar to the original. I still have the .mov he sent me.

Will you guys be pooling your resources, perhaps? Red Menace is making the most out of what he has, but it appears to me you have even more resources at your disposal.

Visit my *NEW* Star Wars on Video Collection site:

http://www.swonvideo.com

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Video Collector said:

Space Hunter M said:

Using the Classic Media reconstruction of Ghidrah is a fool’s errand as well (I realize you acknowledge the sync errors, but there are unnoticeable visual ones as well). It’s not very accurate and pretty clumsy at times. If you want to carefully re-create Ghidrah, use an original 16mm source like I did for my SD reconstructions. Also, the best (incomplete) source for the audio is the 16mm print on the Australian Siren Entertainment DVD since it’s not an old 1 inch tape master.

Ghidrah also has a shot that’s longer than in any existing Japanese source (a shot of Infant Island when the Shobijin summon Mothra).

The end title you did is pretty good (nice work removing the “Owari”), but it’s not accurate. The 8mm Ken Films 'scope version of Ghidrah shows that the end title is supposed to be stretched to widescreen:

BoxMonster and I collaborated on a version of the opening credits in 720p with fake gate weave and grain for the freeze frames and a font that’s very similar to the original. I still have the .mov he sent me.

Will you guys be pooling your resources, perhaps? Red Menace is making the most out of what he has, but it appears to me you have even more resources at your disposal.

If it’s any help, I guess so.

So, a new book came out and we learned so much, and it is called, “Anguilosaurus, Killer of the Living”.

Author
Time

Space Hunter M said:

Jetrell Fo said:

Space Hunter M said:

The “splices” are just the physical glue marks that were used to edit the negative together. They’re just visible in the HDTV transfer because of how much picture information was saved. There is nothing unusual about them and erasure is not a good idea (The Blu-Ray does this anyway).

Also, any restoration of Monster Zero using a Japanese source is a fool’s errand because all Japanese film sources of the uncut version are inherently INFERIOR to the domestic U.S. elements (which are in desperate need of a re-scan a la the Classic Media Gargantuas).

The uncut camera negative of Monster Zero doesn’t exist anymore. The uncut version Toho uses for video is a foreign element several generations removed from the OCN and it has stabilization and fading problems.

Using the Classic Media reconstruction of Ghidrah is a fool’s errand as well (I realize you acknowledge the sync errors, but there are unnoticeable visual ones as well). It’s not very accurate and pretty clumsy at times. If you want to carefully re-create Ghidrah, use an original 16mm source like I did for my SD reconstructions. Also, the best (incomplete) source for the audio is the 16mm print on the Australian Siren Entertainment DVD since it’s not an old 1 inch tape master.

Ghidrah also has a shot that’s longer than in any existing Japanese source (a shot of Infant Island when the Shobijin summon Mothra).

The end title you did is pretty good (nice work removing the “Owari”), but it’s not accurate. The 8mm Ken Films 'scope version of Ghidrah shows that the end title is supposed to be stretched to widescreen:
https://s30.postimg.org/gnizs8k4x/vlcsnap_2016_12_17_09h02m32s183.png

I made that mistake myself when I did my reconstruction. I’ve since corrected it:
https://s29.postimg.org/qrvkj7vc7/vlcsnap_2016_12_17_09h05m34s217.png

BoxMonster and I collaborated on a version of the opening credits in 720p with fake gate weave and grain for the freeze frames and a font that’s very similar to the original. I still have the .mov he sent me.

What about the Ghidrah Anchor Bay VHS release I uploaded to the spleen? Would that be of any use?

Your capture is unmistakably better PQ-wise, but I’ve had my own rip of the Anchor Bay tape to work with for quite some time. I also have a hi8 recording of a Disney Channel airing of the same video master.

Wow, a hi8 recording, I bet it looks nice too.

Author
Time

Space Hunter M said:

Video Collector said:
Will you guys be pooling your resources, perhaps? Red Menace is making the most out of what he has, but it appears to me you have even more resources at your disposal.

If it’s any help, I guess so.

Perhaps not my place to say, as he may not even need “help”, but if you’d send him your 16mm reference video, the 16mm audio from the Australian DVD and your recreation of the opening credits, his project would move up a notch. Or are you currently working on a similar HD recreation yourself?

Visit my *NEW* Star Wars on Video Collection site:

http://www.swonvideo.com

Author
Time

Space Hunter M said:

Jetrell Fo said:

Space Hunter M said:

The “splices” are just the physical glue marks that were used to edit the negative together. They’re just visible in the HDTV transfer because of how much picture information was saved. There is nothing unusual about them and erasure is not a good idea (The Blu-Ray does this anyway).

Also, any restoration of Monster Zero using a Japanese source is a fool’s errand because all Japanese film sources of the uncut version are inherently INFERIOR to the domestic U.S. elements (which are in desperate need of a re-scan a la the Classic Media Gargantuas).

The uncut camera negative of Monster Zero doesn’t exist anymore. The uncut version Toho uses for video is a foreign element several generations removed from the OCN and it has stabilization and fading problems.

Using the Classic Media reconstruction of Ghidrah is a fool’s errand as well (I realize you acknowledge the sync errors, but there are unnoticeable visual ones as well). It’s not very accurate and pretty clumsy at times. If you want to carefully re-create Ghidrah, use an original 16mm source like I did for my SD reconstructions. Also, the best (incomplete) source for the audio is the 16mm print on the Australian Siren Entertainment DVD since it’s not an old 1 inch tape master.

Ghidrah also has a shot that’s longer than in any existing Japanese source (a shot of Infant Island when the Shobijin summon Mothra).

The end title you did is pretty good (nice work removing the “Owari”), but it’s not accurate. The 8mm Ken Films 'scope version of Ghidrah shows that the end title is supposed to be stretched to widescreen:
https://s30.postimg.org/gnizs8k4x/vlcsnap_2016_12_17_09h02m32s183.png

I made that mistake myself when I did my reconstruction. I’ve since corrected it:
https://s29.postimg.org/qrvkj7vc7/vlcsnap_2016_12_17_09h05m34s217.png

BoxMonster and I collaborated on a version of the opening credits in 720p with fake gate weave and grain for the freeze frames and a font that’s very similar to the original. I still have the .mov he sent me.

What about the Ghidrah Anchor Bay VHS release I uploaded to the spleen? Would that be of any use?

Your capture is unmistakably better PQ-wise, but I’ve had my own rip of the Anchor Bay tape to work with for quite some time. I also have a hi8 recording of a Disney Channel airing of the same video master.

Do our VHS captures have all the same issues some of these other sources have?

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Video Collector said:

Space Hunter M said:

Video Collector said:
Will you guys be pooling your resources, perhaps? Red Menace is making the most out of what he has, but it appears to me you have even more resources at your disposal.

If it’s any help, I guess so.

Perhaps not my place to say, as he may not even need “help”, but if you’d send him your 16mm reference video, the 16mm audio from the Australian DVD and your recreation of the opening credits, his project would move up a notch. Or are you currently working on a similar HD recreation yourself?

I’ve had my own SD reconstructions of Ghidrah for like two years now, and somebody even beat me to syncing the '08 master to the U.S. version before that. I just happen to know a lot of the in and outs of the WRS cut, and I’m all for new attempts.

So, a new book came out and we learned so much, and it is called, “Anguilosaurus, Killer of the Living”.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Damn, lots of activity since I last checked the thread!

Space Hunter M said:

The “splices” are just the physical glue marks that were used to edit the negative together. They’re just visible in the HDTV transfer because of how much picture information was saved. There is nothing unusual about them and erasure is not a good idea (The Blu-Ray does this anyway).

Also, any restoration of Monster Zero using a Japanese source is a fool’s errand because all Japanese film sources of the uncut version are inherently INFERIOR to the domestic U.S. elements (which are in desperate need of a re-scan a la the Classic Media Gargantuas).

The uncut camera negative of Monster Zero doesn’t exist anymore. The uncut version Toho uses for video is a foreign element several generations removed from the OCN and it has stabilization and fading problems.

Using the Classic Media reconstruction of Ghidrah is a fool’s errand as well (I realize you acknowledge the sync errors, but there are unnoticeable visual ones as well). It’s not very accurate and pretty clumsy at times. If you want to carefully re-create Ghidrah, use an original 16mm source like I did for my SD reconstructions. Also, the best (incomplete) source for the audio is the 16mm print on the Australian Siren Entertainment DVD since it’s not an old 1 inch tape master.

Ghidrah also has a shot that’s longer than in any existing Japanese source (a shot of Infant Island when the Shobijin summon Mothra).

The end title you did is pretty good (nice work removing the “Owari”), but it’s not accurate. The 8mm Ken Films 'scope version of Ghidrah shows that the end title is supposed to be stretched to widescreen:
https://s30.postimg.org/gnizs8k4x/vlcsnap_2016_12_17_09h02m32s183.png

I made that mistake myself when I did my reconstruction. I’ve since corrected it:
https://s29.postimg.org/qrvkj7vc7/vlcsnap_2016_12_17_09h05m34s217.png

BoxMonster and I collaborated on a version of the opening credits in 720p with fake gate weave and grain for the freeze frames and a font that’s very similar to the original. I still have the .mov he sent me.

I’m aware any reconstruction of these films using the Toho masters is only ever going to be as good as those masters, but seeing as a new scan is a little beyond my means, it’ll have to do. That a new scan of actual US elements would inherently be better is pretty obvious; we just haven’t got one yet, which is why I’m doing this.

As for the glue marks, I figured the Blu-ray didn’t have them as I’ve watched a bootleg copy and didn’t recall seeing them; I just second-guessed myself as it had been a while and I didn’t have that copy on hand to check (I was out of town).

I had a feeling there might be some errors I’d missed, though. The synchronization in the scene at Shindo and Naoko’s house was egregious enough for me to notice it pretty much immediately, but if there were any less obvious ones I wouldn’t really have any way of knowing (unless someone pointed them out to me, like when the newscast comes on in the cafe).

I appreciate the tip regarding the Australian DVD - do you happen to have a rip of that? (Also, you say it’s incomplete - do you know offhand what’s missing? I understand the WRO logo is omitted from most if not all copies, but is there anything else?) Also, I’ve seen that reconstruction of the credits; I actually used it as a reference/basis for my own version. I think I found the exact font you used, too.

Anyway, seeing as I’ve still got a week before my target release date anyway, I’m more than happy to try and revise this project to make it more accurate. If you could send me a copy of your reconstruction, or if anyone could point me to a VHS capture or TV recording of a 16mm source, I’d be extremely grateful.

(I appreciate your dropping in, by the way. Always good to hear from an expert.)

EDIT: He hooked me up with a Spleen invite, I’ll be at a friend’s place tomorrow to download a VHS rip without getting banned from my university’s wifi.

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^ Very cool indeed. I could have given you a Spleen invite had I known you’d be up for it, LOL.

Anyways, the spleen has some great Godzilla stuff up for you to enjoy, enjoy them.

😃

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^Awesome as usual my friend. You have a pm.

😃

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I really enjoy the different aesthetics on each cover! The Japanese poster variant looks like something we might get on an official release, while the US poster version really replicates the sort of low-budget look of the actual poster perfectly. I love how well you can use and manipulate the original text, too - I’ve had to do similar things for my other projects, but this is really on another level entirely.

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I’ve just finished rendering both the MP4 and the MKV and am uploading them to my usual spots; they’ll be on the Spleen as well!