BigDogLTD

Background

I did come by the Terry Morse directed Godzilla : King of the Monsters when I was much younger, but due to it being black and white and being a bit more sober [ had to be very small since it was TNT’s Monstervision]. I popped in the 1954 version and it really impacted me as a twelve year old back in 2006. The love triangle, the very sober and terrifying devastation of a giant monster attack, and how completely and utterly different it was from the Godzilla I grew up with, shocked me. After I seen Gojira a couple of times, I went to the American version. Fast forward when the recent Hollywood film came out. I was in college, and made me want to watch the films once more in my collection. I took a look at both films and thought to myself, “why not do it?” Originally I went for a cut that combined not only the American and Japanese cuts, but also the 1955 sequel. As much as I want to remake that cut, I want to do this one mainly because I love both cuts, but hated that I had to watch one or the other to get the best aspects of both versions.

Mission of this Fanedit

This fanedit is going to be an English-language attempt of the efforts of the original French cut of Godzilla -King of the Monsters, which combined both the original 1954 and the famous 1956 King of the Monsters cuts.I first wanted to merge King of the Monsters and Gojira, and in fact did so with DVD rips. Now, since I have the Criterion Collection that has both cuts at optimal quality, I wanted to re-attempt this cut once more.

Discovering that there was, in fact, a real honest cut , which I still have to watch in order to compare notes so to speak, that combined those elements made me want to do this even further. But there’s a dead-end online, so for right now, I will just make due with what I got in store. Think of this cut as

Changes of this edit
-Reordering of American scenes. I have yet to decide whether i want to follow the American or Japanese ordering for this iteration.Japanese to include missing footage, or American.
-Minimization of English dubbed dialogue, subtitles.
-Dubbed scenes left in are for Steve Martin’s insertion and when it makes sense story-wise [or I cannot cut it out]
-Reinsertion of all the cut Gojira footage.
-Digitally remove the shadows on the sky behind Steve Martin near the end. This is low priority, but if anyone could help with this part once the initial cutting is done would be a good help.

I have another edit I need to get onto, but for this one, this follows on one premise:

Godzilla Raids Again, while it is a great movie, feels more like a proper last half of Gojira than it does as it’s own movie. I had the idea for a while, and I toyed with my own DVD rips, but nothing came of it. But what I wanted to do, since I had already the Criterion Gojira, was to throw the proper edits and make it work. Considering the niche community of Godzilla faneditors as it is , I felt like I could offerm y own vision for it.

The Raiding of Godzilla is a fanedit that merges both narratives into a cohesive whole. Three hours of somber monster film, and monster fighting. It follows the tragic narrative of Dr. Yamane’s story until the end. A creature that was thought of as a god is all too real as Godzilla wreaks havoc on the city of Tokyo. With the relief of Godzilla’s death, the people of Japan were relieved.

But they were met with another.

… Notes… Author’s Notes

Originally, and perhaps in a later edit, I wanted to actually cut all the footage of the second film and use the monster fighting and any related footage to create what my vision for a Godzilla film would work like. You know, magnify the impact of the attacks.

In a future version, I want to do an alternate version that combines King of the Monsters into the mix as well. I’ll set up the Gojira/KOTM thread as well.

…Changes…

In this edit that I have done:
-Merged both films into a single narrative.
-Cut the ending kanji of Gojira.
-Cut the main intro sequence of Godzilla Raids Again.
-Added a transition that seamlessly connects both movies.
-Used the highest quality video available for both movies. The Fan Restoration of Godzilla Raids Again that is on here provided what I ultimately needed, as well as the Criterion version.

…Credits:

-SpaceHunter M ,for his encouragement and the meticulous restoration of Gojira no Gyakushu [Godzilla Raids Again], this project would not be possible.

Loved looking at it so far. Very impressive restoration. 

As I have not watched this yet, since I have to still ask for MySpleen membership, I am impressed with the screencaps in comparison to the footage included on the CM release. 

I'm new here, but this caught my eye as I am seeking to cut and join the first three Godzilla films into a single narrative as displayed in the Japanese version.  [Mainly Gojira, King of the Monsters and Raids Again.]

Hopefully, I'll get a chance to rewatch the film in an enhanced visual quality as I am impressed with this work.