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Space Hunter M

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Members
Join date
1-Dec-2012
Last activity
21-Mar-2024
Posts
220

Post History

Post
#659983
Topic
King Kong vs. Godzilla - Mono Mix Preservation (* part finished project *)
Time

King Kong vs. Godzilla’s Japanese cut has three principle sound mixes:

1962 Magnetic 4.0 Stereo. (Directional dialogue. Used for the R2 DVD)

1962 Academy Mono. (Uses the alternate mono recording of the score. Other differences unknown to most)

1991 Stereo. (Centered dialogue. Also used for the 2008 HV broadcast)

As far as I know, the 1962 mono mix has been restricted to early LaserDisc and tape releases (from '86 and '89) and it is not present on the 2001 R2 DVD. I believe the 1970/77 re-cuts also use the same mono mix stems. Here is a video in all probability sourced from the 1989 master, as it features a pristine TohoScope logo and has the more prominent native vocals heard in the mono score.

This site (in Japanese) has some interesting information pertaining to the film’s presentation on home video during the 80s and 90s. If anyone is willing to obtain either one of first two LDs listed, a simple preservation would be instrumental to those curious about the mono presentation, myself included.

Post
#655819
Topic
Which version/release of the Star Wars movies do you watch and why?
Time

As of now, my available options are the Harmy 2.0 .mkv for Star Wars, Puggo's gorgeous 16mm Empire preservation with the mono mix, and the 1996 Ultimate Experience Sci-Fi airing from the :F:L:I:M:S:I:P:L:A:S:T: :D:A:T:A:B:A:S:E: for Jedi. I like the stark inconsistency between the quality of the three films, and until ROTP comes out, they will probably be my preferred choice of viewing.

Post
#648035
Topic
FINAL WARRIORS 2004 - Semi-humorous edit of GODZILLA FINAL WARS (Released)
Time

While not the most seriously engineered of fan edits, and the video quality may leave something to be desired (I used downscaled  .avi content for the majority of the feature instead of full res .mpeg stuff), it’s running along rather fluidly.

So a bit of perspective. Space Warriors 2000 is an unapproved '80s compilation film of old Ultraman shows with new footage spliced in at some points, along with different sound effects, a stock music score and the inclusion of bizarre dubbed monster voices. For this edit, I’m doing pretty much the same, in an attempt to recreate that schlocky, late night TV movie feeling.

I’ve edited the overpadded film down to about 97 minutes (I’m still chopping away at it) and have completely overhauled the sound design to scratchy mono, with a new DeWolfe library soundtrack. For the time being, I’ll be dubbing the monster scenes myself, with a very painful script to follow. A contact of mine is doing his own edit of the film, and when that version’s completed, it’s our plan to smash the two edits together in a very haphazard fashion, almost like a Godfrey Ho film.

Most of the first and third acts in my cut are heavily trimmed for pacing reasons, deleting a lot of the human drama and a few action scenes, including Ozaki and Kazama’s partnership subplot. The opening is slightly tampered, with a new credits sequence and some shuffling. New dialogue and narration will also be dubbed in.

I’m using the German version of Godzilla Final Wars for the picture (Original source being the 2006 Splendid DVD. It lacks many instances of onscreen text and those dreadful color filters), with the .ac3 track of the international dub from the Sony DVD for the dialogue. While it’s out of my means to eradicate the the original music score completely, I’m doing my best to hide it by using the center 5.1 channel exclusively.

Now, onto the primary sound editing. I’ve substituted the standard Hollywooden sound design with a mishmash of classic Toho sound effects, cartoony plus realistic Hanna Barbara stuff, and a few from the Source Engine library for some instances.

I used mkvmerge and mkvextract to slow the down the PAL frame rate to 23.976 fps and Sony Vegas 10 for principle video and sound editing. To keep consistent with Space Warriors 2000, the aspect ratio is very inconsistent, the majority being 2.35:1 squeezed to academy, but some segments are in squeezed 1.66:1 with added panning.

Clip #1: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11f64e (No monster dubbing)

Clip #2: http://vimeo.com/68271930 (No monster dubbing)

This is my first large fan editing project, so critical feedback and recommendations are encouraged.

Post
#611740
Topic
Info Wanted: Godzilla Series ~API English~ Any Preservations?
Time

From 1956 to 1972, zero U.S. theatrical versions featured international dubbing. Only around 1976 did U.S. distributors use the dubs provided by Toho. With the exceptions of 1985 and 2000, no new American English dubs have been produced. To answer your question, the films featured in the UPA Godzilla library (The LDs you mentioned) have had consistent English dubbing since their theatrical releases.

Post
#611672
Topic
Info Wanted: Godzilla Series ~API English~ Any Preservations?
Time

There have been some fan preservations, but the Godzilla fandom is much smaller and quite disorganized, so they aren't widespread and not many have gotten off the ground, plus finding good quality material for them is difficult enough. I'm hoping places like OT can change that.

It will be hard to find elements better than SP VHS tapes for the Titra versions of Sea Monster and Son of Godzilla, as those went directly to television in the late sixties. You'll be hard pressed to even find a reddened 16mm print.

Smog Monster on the other hand would be much easier. From what I've heard, the 1989 Orion video master was sourced from nice looking 35mm elements and there is an LD floating around, so that's one notch above the tape audio, plus the original AIP credits are in squished full frame 2.35:1, though I've heard the ending title card was cropped to 1.66:1 and then squished.

As for Destroy All Monsters, I have no clue where to find visual AIP elements outside of VHS quality bootlegs, but this video of the credits will give you an idea of what we're looking for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNt-5XCc1e0

There is an unauthorized DAM DVD on specialty Kaiju websites that has non-fluttery sound for the entirety of the film, so we may want to seek that out for the audio in favor of the MB release (Which I own).

For further information on the various English versions of Toho films, check out this thread: http://www.tohokingdom.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7462