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Info & Ideas Wanted: for Godzilla Fan Edits (Showa, Heisei and Millennium series)

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 (Edited)

It’s surprising that there are little to no edits or edit ideas floating around for these movies. I just recently completed watching all of the Showa series (after having seen a few from the Heisei and Millennium ones). While I appreciate all of them for what they are and the legacy they’ve created, a lot of them could use some tightening up. I have to admit that I’m rarely interested in the human elements and mostly interested in watching Godzilla fighting some monsters. Raids Again is one of the few that I felt I really loved the human element to (besides of course the original).

Let me point out that I’ve only watched Japanese releases and not any U.S. cuts.

What are some ideas that some of you have for any of the films?

I wonder if there was a good way to combine elements of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and Terror of Mechagodzilla OR combining elements of Ghidorah The Three-Headed Monster and Invasion of Astro-Monster.

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I’ve always wanted to see a fan edit of Invasion of the Astro Monster using the Japanese audio, but also preserving Nick Adams’ original English audio for his lines. (He delivered the lines for his character, Glenn, in English during recording, but his voice was dubbed over in Japanese for the Japanese release. His original English lines were preserved for the English release, with all other characters dubbed over in English.)

I think having original audio all across the board would be really great, but I also like the hypothetical dynamic of the American character conversing in English and being understood by/understanding his Japanese buddies with no problem. Like, maybe they’re helping each other out with language listening practice? XD

To my knowledge, no such edit exists. I’d be happy to take it on myself one day, though it’d be a first for me. 😃

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Since this has first been posted there has been a multitude of new fan reconstructions. I’ll try my best to include them all if I can.

Godzilla vs. The Thing (1964)-
by RedMenace
Recreates the AIP version of Godzilla vs. The Thing in HD.
SOURCES:
Showa Video Blu-ray
1998 Simitar DVD
2006 Siren Visual DVD
2004 Marketing Films DVD
2007 Classic Media DVD

Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster (1964)-
by RedMenace
Recreates the Walter Reade cut in HD.
SOURCES:
Showa Video Blu-Ray
2006 Siren Visual DVD
2007 Classic Media DVD

Monster Zero (1965)-
by RedMenace
Recreates the Henry G. Saperstein/UPA cut of Invasion of the Astro Monster in HD.
SOURCES:
Showa Video Blu-ray
1998 Simitar DVD
2007 Classic Media DVD

Invasion of the Astro Monster (1965)-
by RedMenace
Recreates the Toho international cut of Invasion of the Astro Monster in HD.
SOURCES:
Showa Video Blu-Ray
1998 Simitar DVD
2007 Classic Media DVD
2014 Kraken Blu-Ray of Godzilla vs. Gigan
1998 4Front VHS

Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (1966)-
by goji1986
Recreates the AIP Titra cut of Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster in HD.
SOURCES:
2014 Kraken Blu-Ray

Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster (1966)-
by Gorizard
Recreates the AIP Titra cut of Godzilla vs. The Sea Monster in HD.
SOURCES:
2014 Kraken Blu-Ray
1992 GoodTimes VHS

Son of Godzilla (1967)-
by RedMenace
Recreates the AIP Titra cut of Son of Godzilla in HD.
SOURCES:
Showa Video Blu-Ray
1997 Anchor Bay VHS
2004 TriStar DVD
Showa Video Blu-Ray of Godzilla’s Revenge
French DVD

Destroy All Monsters (1968)-
by RedMenace
Recreates the AIP Titra cut of Destroy All Monsters in HD.
SOURCES:
2011 Media Blasters Blu-Ray
Bootleg VHS
2006 Siren DVD

The Return of Godzilla (1984)-
by Servanov
“EOST” version (English On Screen Text), recreates the International version of ROG as seen in 1998 Carlton VHS in HD.
SOURCES:
2016 Kraken Blu-Ray
2014 Sony Blu-Ray of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
1998 Carlton PAL VHS
2006 MonstersHD Broadcast Capture of Godzilla 1985
German LaserDisc

Godzilla 1985 (1985)-
by RedMenace
Recreates the American version of The Return of Godzilla, Godzilla 1985 in HD.
2016 Kraken Blu-Ray
2006 MonstersHD Broadcast Capture of Godzilla 1985
2016 Blu-Ray of Creepshow 2

That’s about it from what I could find. RedMenace seems to be taking a break from reconstructions. AS you saw, I made a reconstruction myself. I am planning, in the future, to make a 16mm Recreation of ROG, and a Godzilla vs. Biollante Reconstruction. All these can be found on archive.org, except the EOST version of The Return of Godzilla, which you can PM me to get the link for. Hope this helps!

https://www.instagram.com/servanov_/

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I’ve either made or thought up of ideas for edits for some of the Heisei films. Even though it’s my favorite Godzilla series (I especially love Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, King Ghidorah, Destoroyah, and Biollante, my top four all time favorite Godzilla films), they’re the one’s I watch the most so I knew going in what to fix.

First, Godzilla vs. Mothra. I actually like this movie quite a bit, it’s in my top 15, but it’s not without it’s flaws. Most of the cuts were cutting the lines where that one dude (the one often seen with Akira Takarada’s character in the gray suit and grey hair) where he kept on making goofy faces with horrible line delivery, the unnecessary environmentalism stuff, some of the wonky effects shots, and adding a roar sound effect for all of the shots where Godzilla’s mouth is open but there’s no roar (which is such a pet peeve of mine; literally every Godzilla film has at least one occasion, I’ve checked, where this happens but this is the one that suffers the most and it’s the most noticeable here; there’s so many shots here that just grind my gears because he’s clearly meant to be roaring but there’s no roar sound effect. There could be a shot where it’s just him in the center of the frame and there’s no roar sound. Sound designers? Hello?! Though I guess it’s still better then literally giving Godzilla SpaceGodzilla’s roar in some shots two films later).

I’ve been wanting to make a Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II extended cut, as Takao Okawara initially wanted too, adding in all (or just most) of the scenes cut from the film, especially Miki’s interaction with Baby (which I literally have no idea why they cut because it’s great). I have two problems though that keep me from doing it, which are that I can’t understand Japanese and no subtitles seem to exist anywhere so it would be impossible for anyone who doesn’t speak Japanese to understand the added in human scenes because there’s no subtitles, and second, I can’t find the scenes in a good quality. If someone would be willing to help me fix any of these two problems, I will be eternally grateful. Other then that I wouldn’t make any changes to the film because I absolutely love this film so much (my favorite of all time) and the editing is excellent.

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla is easily the one I’ve edited the most because it’s the most flawed. I cut everything about G-Force and the UNGCC in the first act besides the opening scene so I could remove the awful space battle with no eyebrows raised, the subplot about Miki having a connection with the fairies, all of the times Kiyo acts like a wimp and complains about having to do the simplest of jobs (like climbing) on Birth Island despite working for an organization that fights kaiju, the butt shot, the scene where Koji and Kiyo suddenly go from Project T to killing Godzilla and being so dim witted they think they can kill Godzilla with guns, Miki deciding to stay on the island, the whole Mafia subplot, the whole Miki and Koji love subplot (including the time where she helps Koji get Yuki get his foot un-stuck using telekinesis), and some parts of the final battle that made it drag out. I ended up cutting it do only an hour and 15 minutes and it’s perfectly coherent. I would add back in the deleted scene of Godzilla trying to free his son but the scene hasn’t been released at all, which is a shame.

I haven’t touched Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah because literally my only problem (the fact that, while Wikizilla’s video perfectly clears up the time travel stuff, the movie itself doesn’t clearly explain it enough) can’t be fixed, I haven’t touched Godzilla vs. Biollante either, and for Godzilla vs. Destoroyah I think I went in and trimmed like one or two wonky effects shots and that’s it.

I may make my own thread if you guys want me to elaborate more on the one’s I changed (just one thread for all of the films though, don’t want to unnecessarily clutter the forum). I could end up making some for the Showa and Millennium films as well if I feel like it (some ideas that come to mind are trimming Monster Zero a little so the pacing is better because the pacing is horrendous, cutting the Minilla subplot from Final Wars, and adding the Steve Martin scenes to the original Gojira).

My Star Wars Fan-Edits

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I’m working on ideas for a selection of 5 Godzilla movies es I’m reediting, you should check out my thread (Godzilla Movies Revisited) for some ideas.

I’m not really that much of a movie purist. I really should’ve thought my name out a bit more.