You’re still going to include the added Imperial March, right? That was one of my favorite ideas from the original version of your edit, since I myself always thought it would be a great thing to edit in.
This is a re-edit of Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956), the American version of the Japanese Godzilla (1954), which combines it with the original version.
KOTM56’s own protagonist, Raymond Burr’s character Steve Martin, is added alongside most scenes of the original cast, whilst adhering to KOTM56’s narrative framing: a documentary-esque noir told from Steve’s perspective.
Due to the nature of the edit requiring subjective artistic choice in combining the two different films, this is an entirely different cut of the film.
This edit gets you the best of both worlds, with the brilliance of the original Japanese masterpiece and the great acting and iconic lines of Raymond Burr that I (and I’m sure many others) have lots of nostalgia for.
This is a great edit for people who like both versions for their own merits and don’t want to have to pick between the two when revisiting the original Godzilla. It’s also a potential way to introduce someone to the franchise if you’re not sure which version to show them.
This edit is available, just PM me if you would like to see it.
Both versions sourced from the Criterion Blu-Ray. Modifications to dimensions, brightness and contrast are made to both versions for coherency.
JP/54 - Original Japanese Version
US/KOTM56 - Godzilla: King of the Monsters!
Cut list:
Steve Martin’s fundamental narrative function is our POV character; everything is in the US version either something he witnesses or knows of. This edit follows this framing for narrative coherence.
As such, characters are introduced when Steve meets/interacts with them, only after which they can have independent scenes in JP. Steve’s narration delivering exposition is also mostly used in place of equivalent JP scenes.
However, I also include as much JP content as possible within this framework; subtitled JP dialogue is spliced in when Steve is watching conversations, and emphasis was placed on keeping important scenes with JP characters, as long as it doesn’t interfere with Steve’s role as the protagonist.
JP/54 - Original Japanese Version
US/KOTM56 - Godzilla: King of the Monsters!
-(US) Title and introduction to Steve Martin in the aftermath of Godzilla’s rampage. The film remains mostly an extended flashback told from Steve’s perspective.
-(JP) Godzilla destroys the Eiko-Maru. Used JP version to maintain mystery, as KOTM56 added Godzilla’s roar to the scene.
-Cut scene of Ogata and Emiko. Unfortunate, but Steve is our POV character and we haven’t been introduced to them yet.
-(US) Steve is stopped by security at the airport, meets Iwanaga, and learns of the destruction of the Eiko-Maru.
-(JP & US) Iwanaga takes Steve to the SDF Naval Office. Intercut with JP as Ogata and the coast guard talk about the disappearance of the Eiko-Maru.
-(JP) Godzilla sinks the Bingo-Maru.
-(JP) Military officials talk with families of people on the sunken ships.
-(JP) Survivors of Bingo-Maru are found by a third ship.
-(JP) Military reports that survivors were found.
-(JP) Military learns that the third ship was also sunk.
–Cut Hagiwara calling Dr. Yamane and telling him, “That’s three now!” to allow consistency with the next scene.
-(US) Steve leaves a message for his editor: now eight ships have been sunk, and shipping is shut down. It can be inferred that more ships have been destroyed since the previous scene. We were only viewing the perspective of a single shipping company, anyway.
-(JP & US) Masaji, a native of Odo Island and fisherman, washes ashore. Added narration by Steve introducing the island (to mitigate it kinda coming out of nowhere within this narrative framing), but omitted his implication that Masaji dies, as he’s seen later.
-(JP) Odo Island fishermen get no catch, an elder admonishes the youth for ridiculing belief in Godzilla.
-(JP & US) Steve, military officials, and reporter Hagiwara land on Odo Island to interview locals.
-Omitted US scene of Iwanaga and Steve interviewing a local. It’s just too cheesy (especially with how stereotypically the native is portrayed) and it conveys the same information as Hagiwara’s interview with Masaji.
-(US) Steve and Iwanaga watch islander ceremony and learn the legend of Godzilla.
-(JP & US) Steve and Iwanaga witness Godzilla attack and destroy the village amidst a storm. Intercut with Shinkichi losing his family.
–Truncated unnecessarily long shot of Shinkichi screaming for his mom and brother after Godzilla destroys their house.
-(JP & US) Odo Islanders testify before the Diet. Steve’s narration added to the opening to the scene, but not over the testimonies. Added shots of Steve listening and taking notes.
-(JP & US) Professor Yamane proposes a scientific expedition. Added shots of Steve listening.
–Steve introduces Dr. Yamane through narration when he appears before the Diet. Audio is taken from Yamane’s US introduction, which recontextualized footage from a scene taking place later in the JP version. This is done to retain said JP scene later on, whilst maintaining Steve as the POV character.
-(US) Steve leaves the press box, is granted permission to join the expedition by Yamane.
-(US) Expedition leaves for Odo Island, with Steve’s narration. In accordance with the KOTM56’s explanation that Serizawa is away conducting field tests, he is not present.
-(US) Steve narrates as he silently watches Ogata and Emiko, telling us of the love triangle between them and Serizawa through narration. I couldn’t add Ogata and Emiko’s JP dialogue as their conversation is about Serizawa seeing them off.
-(JP & US) Expedition surveying Odo Island. Added Steve and Iwanaga in the crowd.
–Truncated overly long shot of Islander hitting the bell.
–Omitted Iwanaga telling Steve the islanders are heading up the hills for safety, which contradicts footage and dialogue showing they’re actually going up to fight the creature.
-(JP & US) Godzilla rises from behind the mountain. Added shots of Steve and Iwanaga.
–Re-edited US audio to remove weird audio echo effects.
-(JP & US) Yamane’s report to the Diet. Added Steve watching.
–Purposefully used contemplative shots of Steve when Yamane states that H-bombs are responsible for Godzilla, as well as in the middle of the heated argument. Shot choice implies he agrees with the woman who declares Godzilla should be made public.
-(JP) Train scene with citizens’ reaction to newspaper report of Godzilla.
-(US) Steve calls his editor Lawrence and Serizawa.
-(JP) Ogata and Emiko’s conversation about Serizawa.
–Hagiwara’s talk with Emiko and Ogata and interview with Serizawa had to go. Serizawa told Steve that Emiko initiated the meeting and indicated it’s personal. Steve and Serizawa’s phone call is important; their friendship is the reason Steve stops in Japan.
-Cut shots of Ogata and Emiko driving to their respective destinations.
-(JP & US) Added Steve’s narration to the beginning of Emiko at Serizawa’s house. The rest, Serizawa showing her the Oxygen Destroyer, is purely JP.
-(JP) Emiko returns home but doesn’t tell Ogata what happened.
-(JP) The Navy tries to kill Godzilla with depth charges. Yamane sits alone in his office, upset. In 54, this happens before Emiko visits Serizawa. KOTM56’s restructure is used to maintain consistency with Steve’s phone conversations with Lawrence and Serizawa.
-(US) A party boat spots Godzilla in Tokyo Bay, with Steve’s narration at the beginning.
-(US) Steve narrates over a montage as Japan is now put into a state of panic.
-(JP) Military officials call Yamane to a meeting, but he has no idea how to kill Godzilla. This scene, important to Yamane’s characterization, is able to be kept because I moved Steve’s narration introducing Yamane to his introduction scene in 54.
-(JP & US) Godzilla’s first rampage. Steve added. Used some shots of Godzilla from KOTM56, as its Criterion transfer actually preserves more detail then Criterion’s transfer for 54, which is sometimes too dark and hard to see Godzilla.
-Added Godzilla roars in shots where his mouth is open, but there’s no roar.
-(US) Iwanaga tells Steve about the military’s plan, thereby utilizing KOTM56’s more logical explanation for the electric towers. They’re already present but charged with extra voltage, rather than the military building an entire row of electric towers in less than 24 hours. It’s still odd, but at least less so.
-(JP & US) Montage of residents being evacuated with Steve’s narration.
-(US) Montage of military mobilization narrated by Steve. In KOTM56 this is placed before Godzilla’s first rampage, but is moved to the JP cut’s placement, as the military doesn’t intervene until the second rampage.
-(JP) Ogata, intending to ask Yamane for permission to marry Emiko, gets himself thrown out of the house.
-(JP & US) Godzilla makes landfall and destroys the electric towers. Added Steve shots and narration as he reports live. Used the US cut’s more suspenseful edit of Godzilla’s approach, as well as a chunk of its footage, as it preserves more detail.
–Omitted Steve stating that everyone is off the streets by nightfall. As we see during the rampage, this isn’t true.
–Cut misaligned artillery shot as Godzilla destroys the electric towers.
-(JP & US) Godzilla’s second rampage. Mostly JP. Added Steve shots and narration recording his report during the attack, and Godzilla destroying the building Steve is in, re-edited to maintain continuity with the JP rampage sequence. Used a lot of shots of Godzilla from the transfer for KOTM56 for the same reason as the first rampage.
–Added Godzilla roars in shots where his mouth is open, but there’s no roar.
–Truncated Godzilla vs. Jet fighters scene, more like the US cut.
-(JP) Aftermath of Godzilla’s attack.
-(JP & US) Emiko tells Ogata and Steve about the Oxygen Destroyer, Steve urges them to convince Serizawa to use the weapon. Purely JP flashback of Serizawa’s demonstration to Emiko and their subsequent conversation.
–Removed mention of Hagiwara as Serizawa talks to Emiko about the Oxygen Destroyer for continuity.
-(JP) Ogata and Emiko convince Serizawa to use the Oxygen Destroyer against Godzilla.
–Added my own subtitles so Serizawa asks about Steve, and Ogata tells him he’s recovering in the hospital.
–Also added subtitles so Emiko mentions that she told both Ogata and Steve of the Oxygen Destroyer.
-(US) Steve’s narration as the ship makes its way to Tokyo Bay.
-(JP) Serizawa insists that he help Ogata use the Oxygen Destroyer.
–Serizawa asks Steve to get him a diving suit rather than Ogata. Small change, but it allows Steve to feel more present with the JP characters.
–Added original exchanges between Steve and Serizawa before the latter goes underwater, using other dialogue from the US cut. With the presence of the JP scene of Serizawa asking for a diving suit, it feels odd that he never bothers to talk to his old college friend, and Steve is otherwise oddly absent from the scene.
—Serizawa says, “Steve, promise to keep my secret.” Steve responds “Of course.” In this cut, it’s more ambiguous how much the public knows about the Oxygen Destroyer. This could also be interpreted as Serizawa having told Steve what he plans to do, and he’s asking him again not to tell Ogata and Emiko.
—As Serizawa holds the OD with a contemplative face, Steve asks him, “Serizawa, is something wrong?”. I arranged footage so Steve and Serizawa appear to look at each other after Serizawa responds.
-(JP & US) The Death of Godzilla. Added Steve on the boat. Swapped a couple of Steve’s shots from their placement in the US cut, as I felt one matched Steve’s reaction to Serizawa choosing to die more.
–Serizawa says “Goodbye Steve”, as he cuts his wire.
-(JP & US) Mixed JP and US ending, keeping both Yamane’s iconic final line and Steve’s speech in honor of his friend’s sacrifice.
- Empire Strikes Back (great)
- Return of the Jedi (great)
- Revenge of the Sith (great)
- A New Hope (great)
- Rogue One (great)
- The Force Awakens (pretty good)
- Solo (mediocre)
- Attack of the Clones (has it’s highlights)
- Phanthom Menace (has it’s highlights)
- The Last Jedi (why…)
I know this is over a year old but I just thought I would briefly comment my new sentiments. The list is still pretty accurate, but believe it or not I’d probably now put TPM and AOTC above TFA and possibly Solo, because at least they actually contribute and are essential to the saga and lore. They have great parts. Meanwhile IMO the sequel trilogy to the Star Wars saga is like a lamprey that’s latched itself onto a shark: it’s something forced onto something else that was already functioning perfectly without it, doesn’t flow right with the rest of the body, and literally just sucks from it like a parasite. Sound unpleasant? Exactly. Like the sequel trilogy.
Rise of Skywalker is second to worst, only beat still by The Last Jedi.
I know this is probably a sacrilegious thing to say, but I think Hayden as Anakin’s force ghost actually makes more sense. It might sound dumb right now but let me explain.
Vader/Anakin was 46 when he died. Hayden is currently 39 and doesn’t look much different then he did in ROTS. I’m pretty sure he’s not going to suddenly look 78 in 7 years.
So even if we take into account the fact that he was good again when he died so ROTS wasn’t the last time he was on the light side of the force, it STILL makes more sense for Hayden to be the ghost.
I’m not sure if this has been suggested yet or not, but what about Vader saying to Luke “Your mother once thought as you do” instead of “Obi-Wan once thought as you do”. I think that would be pretty impactful.
octoroxx’s fan-edits for Episodes 1 and 2 (you can find them on fanedit.org), then episode 3, Rogue One, the original trilogy (original, not special edition), and Force Awakens completely intact, and Ivan Ortega’s Last Jedi fan-edit (it hasn’t come out yet but from what I’ve heard it’s going to be amazing)
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).