Okay, a company called Genius Entertainment is coming out with new releases of Toho Kaiju films, mostly Godzillas, with the original Japanese version plus, as a separate feature, the original U.S. release version complete with original English dub!!!! That’s a good thing. I’ve been picking all these up. The separate feature aspect is important because there was often a difference in running time between the two different versions, so you can't "toggle" between the two different language tracks the way you can with a current anime release, for instance.

However, Tokyo Shock/Media Blasters has come out with similar releases of Toho Kaiju and sci-fi films, e.g. DOGORA, THE MYSTERIANS, MATANGO, and SPACE AMOEBA, that have the Japanese version but not the U.S. release English dubs. Instead they offer the Tokyo-made “international dubs” (what I call the “kung fu” dubs because they often use the same voices that dubbed kung fu movies in the 1970s).

Now, with SPACE AMOEBA, the DVD case doesn’t even list the film’s U.S. release title and the one by which U.S. fans of this film know it, YOG, MONSTER FROM SPACE. No mention of it at all. So how are fans of YOG going to know that SPACE AMOEBA is the same film? It would be like releasing FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH under its original title KING BOXER without letting people know what it is. (Dragon Dynasty has released it as KING BOXER, but with a subtitle on the DVD case to let people know it’s FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH.)

So we have two different companies releasing sets of Toho sci-fi films from the 1960s on DVD, one set with the English dubs that were released in the U.S., and one with the inferior "international dubs." Why does one company have the rights to distribute the U.S. English dubs and not the other? Why didn’t Tokyo Shock release YOG with its original AIP English dub and call it YOG? Why didn’t Toho simply license ALL the films to Genius Entertainment and leave Tokyo Shock out of the loop completely?

I understand that bits and pieces of this puzzle have been put on this board in threads on individual titles, but has anyone ever addressed the whole picture?

Thanks.

The US Godzilla titles in question were owned by UPA (United Productions of American), operated by Henry G. Saperstein, who co-produced a couple of films (FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD, MONSTER ZERO, THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS), worked out some perpetuity rights on his titles, represented Toho, and even had the merchandize and licensing rights to Godzilla in the 1970s and 1980s (remember all of those toys and games?).

In the end, Saperstein owned GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS, GIGANTIS (picked up from Alan Enterprises), RODAN (these were bought in the late 1960s or thereabouts), GODZILLA VS. THE THING (which he leased to AIP), GHIDRAH THE THREE-HEADED MONSTERS (picked up from Alan Enterprises), FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD, MONSTER ZERO, THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS (three films he co-produced with Toho), GODZILLA'S REVENGE, LAKE OF DRACULA, LAST DAYS OF PLANET EARTH, EVIL OF DRACULA, ESPY and TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA.

In a nutshell, after Saperstein passed away, his family sold his company to Classic Media (their product is being distributed by Genius Entertainment). Classic Media did not have to work with Toho on their first releases, because they grandfathered UPA's library (including MR. MAGOO) and these films. When they decided to do these "deluxe" DVDs, they went to Toho to include the Japanese versions (interestingly enough, Saperstein had the US home video rights to the original GODZILLA), and decided to work with Toho. Since Classic Media owns the original English dubs, grandfathered from UPA, they can do with them what they wish. But, Toho wanted Classic Media to use their International titles for the films, so they could stretch their intellectual property muscles in this market.

Classic Media, in working with Toho, decided to drop ownership of some of the titles and sign the rights back over to Toho -- FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD, LAKE OF DRACULA, LAST DAYS OF PLANET EARTH, EVIL OF DRACULA and ESPY. They decided to keep all of the Godzillas, of course, and were urged to keep RODAN and THE WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS.

Media Blasters had already been acquiring titles from Toho (such as THE MYSTERIANS), and picking up the original Japanese versions that were never distributed in the US. While there were several other labels interested in picking up some of these titles, including MATANGO and ATRAGON, only Media Blasters were able to meet Toho's licensing fees.

To set the record straight, some of the Media Blasters' DVD do indeed contain the original dubs heard in the US versions -- these would be MATANGO, DOGORA and FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD. In the case of the the first two titles, AIP-TV didn't redub these and used Toho's International dubs for ATTACK OF THE MUSHROOM PEOPLE and DAGORA, THE SPACE MONSTER. When UPA passed on FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD, Media Blasters snatched up the rights, and were able to use the original AIP dubbing, because they got it from the grandfathered owners, Classic Media.

The reason why Toho doesn't want to use the original US release titles (if different from their own International Titles), such as YOG: MONSTER FROM SPACE, GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER, etc., and dubbing done by Titra/Titan Studios, etc., is because they are afraid that someone will pop up and claim ownership to the dubbing, dubbing script, titles, etc. So, while Toho realizes that the original US dubs are better, and there are a lot of people who remember the film's old US titles, they don't want to temp fate -- and they want to be able to completely "own" the new US versions. (In the case of Classic Media's titles, they would establish the US rights to the Japanese versions with English subtitles.)

Hope that sorts things out for you!

I don't know, August, I'll have to show it to my lawyer first. :lol:

(Hmm...D'ya think a class-action lawsuit by fans could force Toho to release GODZILLA VS. THE SMOG MONSTER in the version we all know and love? Is there an enterprising law student out there eager to take up the cause and open a whole new area of legal studies? Film schools could add departments devoted to...Fan Law! I see a whole new movement here. "Fans have rights, too!")

Seriously though, thanks.

Next questions:
Does ADV still own DESTROY ALL MONSTERS or has that been picked up by Classic Media as well? If so, will it restore the original AIP dub?
When are WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS and LAST DAYS OF PLANET EARTH coming out?

Just to slightly correct something in August's post, Henry Saperstein/UPA never had rights to GIGANTIS or GHIDRAH. Those films were actually owned by Golden Books, and Classic Media acquired them when they bought the Golden Books TV and movie library back in 1998. Classic Media later bought UPA and ended up with all the other titles August listed.

That would be nice. According to Toho, the big problem with releasing some of the old US versions is that they simply don't have usable materials. The US edits and dubs were usually made by the American distributor, and many of those companies are no longer in business or the rights have changed hands many times. I've seen some of the old AIP contracts and they state that when the rights expired all materials must be returned to Toho or destroyed. Since Toho doesn't have (for example) the AIP version of DESTROY ALL MONSTERS it appears that some distributors decided to save on shipping costs.

In the case of the AIP SMOG MONSTER, Toho has only one print of the film and it is in terrible shape. For them its a matter of spending money to restore the US cut or going with the international version that they already have all the original materials for... and they go with what's easiest and cheapest for them to do.

The last time I asked Toho (about a month ago) ADV still has the rights. Classic Media doesn't have any plans to pick up any more films for the time being.

Classic Media plans to release WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS and anew DVD of RODAN next year (nothing more specific has been announced). The are no plans for LAST DAYS OF PLANET EARTH at this time because no US distributor has picked up the rights since they reverted back to Toho. Hopefully Media Blasters or Discotek Media will look into that one.

Thanks for the clarification on Golden Books being the rights holders of GIGANTIS and GHIDRAH, who got them from Alan Enterprises who got them from... all of that minutia is pretty convoluted and gets processed as such.

In today's world of audio and video digital technology, you no longer need archival quality elements to extract audio and match it to video -- I did that on a Avid editing suite ten years ago, marrying the dialogue from a (pan and scan) Paramount Home Video VHS of MONSTER ZERO to the same scene sourced from the Japanese laserdisc of the film. The three minute scene took about 30 minutes to synch precisely, and that's considering I was a neophyte on this suite at the time.

Meanwhile, a number of fans in the '90s accomplished their own complete versions marrying the AIP dubs to the Japanese prints with mixed results (considering they were using home video decks), while recently one fan who works in a professional sound lab, seamlessly married the AIP soundtrack to the Japanese DVD of DESTROY ALL MONSTERS -- and also digitally processed the English dub (from VHS dupe of a 16mm print) to reduce noise and distortion. While not 5.1, the sound is cleaner than on display in the "International Version." So, it certainly can be done -- without great expense or time, and could be done at home with the proper set up on one's iMac or laptop using ProTools.

Plus, there must be a video master of SMOG MONSTER sitting somewhere in the Orion Pictures archives (that didn't get sent back or destroyed) -- at the very least, someone could pull the English audio track off of the Orion Home Video VHS or Laserdisc.

The technology is out there...

I completely agree that the technology exists... its just a case of Toho doing that or not. When they have their international English version of HEDORAH ready to go-- and they know Sony or someother distributor doesn't care what dub they're given-- 10 times out of 10 Toho will go with what they have rather than try to recreate the AIP SMOG MONSTER. Same with DAM or SEA MONSTER or any other film where they have an international version.

In those cases where there are not international dubs, Toho and/or the US distributor have done something along the lines of what you're talking about here. Both Classic Media's US version of GHIDORAH and Media Balsers' FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD were a combination of Japanese and American materials. It would be great to see a company like Media Blasters eventually get DAM and do the same thing. MGM also did some nice work on their new YONGARY DVD.

Speaking of the Classic Media releases ... has there been any street date announced for TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA and GODZILLA'S REVENGE? Last one I saw was for around the beginning of this month, but still no sign of them.

Classic Media hasn't made any announcement yet for the next two DVDs.