This is one of the greatest Godzilla movies ever produced, but this DVD version is far from perfect. Unfortunately, this is just a re-issue of the same DVD released a few years ago. The film transfer is exactly the same as the one previously released by ADV films, which has a recently re-dubbed mono soundtrack. The ADV soundtrack is much inferior to the one originally produced for American International Pictures in 1968, which featured an excellent voice-cast and a different script. Apparently the AIP version can't be published because the ownership rights are in limbo. Based on the cover notes, I bought this DVD believing it had the original AIP voice-tracks. No such luck. The folks at ADV deliberately stretch the truth. The cover art claims it's the "50th Anniversary Special Edition", but Destroy All Monsters was made in 1968, which makes this DVD issue the 36th anniversary for the film (in 2004). The 50th year, is a reference to the first Godzilla movie "Gojira" made in 1954, but the text makes no mention of Gojira or Godzilla. It also claims to contain "The original motion picture and soundtrack", which is misrepresentation. The original film was Japanese language, and this DVD isn't even the original English version. I would've been a lot less disappointed if they had at least given this version some chapter stops and stereo audio (which there isn't). There's not even a menu for this low budget version. If you try to hit the chapter advance button, the movie starts over from the beginning. There's no menus, no extras, no subtitles, no secondary audio tracks, no trailer, no nothing. The only thing that's different from ADV's first issue of this movie, is the cover art and the addition of a music CD. The CD contains 30 mono-audio music tracks from the movie soundtrack. The music score is wonderful, but the audio is not stereo and the fidelity is only fair. My point of contention is that ADV is trying to fool us into believing this movie has the original audio soundtrack, but instead gives you fine-print on the back mentioning an extra music CD. Buyer beware, if you already own the original release of this DVD, don't be fooled into thinking this is a different version.
The American International version from 1969 had far superior
dubbing done in New York by Titra/Titan sound and featured
the voices of Peter (SPEED RACER) Fernandes, Jack Curtis and
Hal Linden amoung others. This is a tragic loss. The dialogue and
acting were so much better. What a shame.
KEEPING SCORE: The Monsters and where they came from.
Destroy All Monsters has a line-up of eleven giant monsters. Here are lists of the classic eleven, the ones who didn't make it into DAM and the ones who came later in the original series.
1) GODZILLA the king of all monsters from GODZILLA (1954-56)
2) MOTHRA giant telepathic caterpillar from the movie MOTHRA (1962)
3) RODAN flying pteranodon type creature from RODAN (1957)
4) ANGUIRUS armored dinosaur from GIGANTIS THE FIRE MONSTER (aka GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN 1955)
5) MINYA (aka LITTLE GODZILLA) Godzilla's son from SON OF GODZILLA (1967)
6) MANDA sea serpent/dragon from ATRAGON (1963)
7) SPIGA (aka KUMONGA) the giant spider from SON OF GODZILLA (1967)
8) GOROSAURUS giant allosaurus type from KING KONG ESCAPES (1968)
9) VARAN a giant flying marine iguana from VARANTHE UNBELIEVABLE (1959)
10) BARAGON a floppy eared subteranian dinosaur from FRANKENSTIEN CONQUERS THE WORLD (1965)
11) KING GHIDORAH three headed alien/dragon from GHIDRAHTHE THREE HEADED MONSTER (1964)
These are the guys who were around at the time but, for whatever reason, didn't get to appear in DAM:
1) KING KONG from KING KONG VS. GODZILLA, KING KONG ESCAPES etc.
2) GIANT OCTOPUS from KING KONG VS. GODZILLA and WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS
3)FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER from FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD
4) GAIRA the green gargantua from WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS
5) SANDA the brown gargantua from WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS
6) DAGORAH space alien from DAGORAHTHE SPACE MONSTER
7) EBIRAH giant shrimp/lobster from GODZILLA VS THE SEA MONSTER
8) GIANT CONDOR from GODZILLA VS. THE SEA MONSTER
9) GIANT SEA SNAKE from KING KONG ESCAPES
10) MECHANIKONG robot ape from KING KONG ESCAPES
11) MOGUERA mechanIcal mole from THE MYSTERIANS
12) MAGUMA giant prehistoric walrus from GORATH
13) KAMAKIRAS (aka GIMANTIS) from SON OF GODZILLA.
Then there are these guys, who came after DAM so they could not participate in the fun. Even though, chronologicaly, DAM takes place
after these guys appeared (1999):
1) KROIGA a giant winged lion with a human brain from LATITUDE ZERO.
2) HEDORAH the smog monster from GODZILLA VS. HEDORAH
3) GIGAN alien cyborg from GODZILLA VS. GIGAN
4) MEGALON subteranian cyborg insect from GODZILLA VS MEGALON
5) JET JAGUAR size changing humanoid robot from GODZILLA VS. MEGALON
6) KING CEASAR living shisa statue from GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA
7) MECHAGODZILLA (aka MG) alien cyborg duplicate of the king from GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA.
8) TITANOSAURUS aquatic dinosaur from TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA
9) MECHAGODZILLA 2 (aka MG2) rebuilt/redesigned MG from TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA.
10) GEZORA giant amphibius cuttlefish from YOGMONSTER FROM SPACE.
11) KAMEBAS giant fanged(?) turtle from YOGMONSTER FROM SPACE
12) GANIMES giant crab from YOGMONSTER FROM SPACE
13) YOG glowing telepathic space amaeba from YOGMONSTER FROM SPACE.
14) GABARA gargling blue cat/toad monster from GODZILLA'S REVENGE
Here are the third generation of monsters from the 80s & 90s:
1) BIOLLANTE geneticaly engineared plant monster from GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE
2) MECHA KING GHIDORAH time traveling cyborg from GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH
3) BATTRA giant black moth from GODZILLA AND MOTHRA: BATTLE FOR THE EARTH
4) FIRE RODAN radioactive pterisaur from GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA II
5) SPACE GODZILLA space traveling Godzilla clone from GODZILLA VS. SPACEGODZILLA
6) MOGUERA (aka MOGERA) updated transforming version of the mole robot from THE MYSTERIANS, appeared in GODZILLA VS. SPACE GODZILLA
7) DOSTOROYAH flying mutating crab monster from GODZILLA VS. DESTOROYAH
8) DESGHIDORAH (aka DEATH GHIDORAH) three headed quadrped from REBIRTH OF MOTHRA
9) DAGARAH parasite producing sea monster from REBIRTH OF MOTHRA 2
And finally, the fourth generation of monsters:
1) ZILLA skinny Godzilla from the american movie GODZILLA (1998)
2) BABY ZILLAS numerous ofspring of ZILLA from GODZILLA (1998)
3) ORGAH laser shooting alien from GODZILLA 2000
4) MEGAGUIRAS mutant dragonfly from GODZILLA VS, MEGAGUIRAS
5) MONSTER X (aka KEISER GHIDORAH) shape changing alien from
GODZILLA : FINAL WARS
I hope this list was useful to young Godzilla fans.
Buy Destroy All Monsters (1968) Now
Unlike many of the currently posted reviews, I'm going to be reviewing the actual release, rather than speculating or complaining about the cover EDIT-Amazon now lists the proper cover shot as to what was used on the release).I received my Blu Ray of Destroy All Monsters today and promptly dropped it into the Blu Ray player.
I commend Media Blasters/Tokyo Shock for releasing this one.
From a story perspective, all the giant monsters are collected on a single island (Monster Island) for research purposes. Contact is lost with the control facility and what is discovered is that a race of aliens has taken control of the giant monsters. The giant monsters are sent to many different cities across the world and the human race must then wrestle control of the giant monsters back from the aliens. Fun stuff!
Video:
I'm torn here. I really, really wanted to love this release. What is there is 1080p HD in name, but the detail quality seems kind of low. I don't know what happened, but the colors seem washed out and faded while there are some instances of dust and dirt to be seen. Interestingly enough, you can still see the control cables and wires used for various special effects, so perhaps this was the best that could be done with it? I've read (and a commenter stated the possibility) that the source was a 35mm print.
In my mind, the Blu Ray doesn't look to be much better than an upscaled DVD. I don't have the Media Blasters DVD to compare directly, so I don't know if it really is an upscale or not, but every indication points to this being a true HD source.
Disappointing from an HD perspective certainly. If this is the same quality that was released in Japan (can't verify myself, sorry), then that tells me it is a source issue, but I don't know because I can't compare.
Forums I've been to indicate this is the same master used on the Japanese release, but take that for what it is worth without validation.
Audio:
5.1 Japanese, along with 2.0 Japanese and English 2.0 (2 audio streams for English). I watched in Japanese 5.1 and the music and effects seem to be well separated in the front speakers, while the rear channels barely got much use. Since this was original recorded in 2.0 stereo anyway, I flipped over and I have to say the stereo separation is just about as good in my mind as the 5.1 in Japanese.
I spot checked the English audio tracks and they seem to be on par in terms of audio quality as the Japanese. In terms of the quality of the English dub, I leave that to others to decide. Seems OK to me, but I expect hokey English on my giant monster movies anyway!
Based on a comment on my review, I went back to check the English dub. I can confirm, without question, that BOTH the AIP AND the "International" Toho dub are, in fact, on this disc. Both English tracks are, however, in 2.0 Stereo ONLY. There is no 5.1 English dub. Not that most people who wanted the AIP dub would care that much, considering the film was in 2.0 stereo originally anyway.
Packaging:
For those of you in love with the image Amazon has up, be prepared to be disappointed. Or not, if you hated it. From the time it was displayed here to time of release, the cover has been changed. If you check out the Destroy All Monsters wikipedia entry, this release uses the poster artwork displayed there. It looks good to me.
Otherwise the packaging is pretty bare bones. No inserts in the case or anything. Serviceable, but at $30 MSRP I'd have hoped for something a little better.
Extras:
Commentary is pretty good. Very nice to have it included.
All of the trailers are in standard definition, which is OK I suppose.
All of the Extras content is 480i and NOT 1080p.
You get original trailers (English, Japanese, French (poor audio quality), RADIO spots for the AIP dub (English only with still images from the film) ), a storyboard image gallery, an 8mm reel from AIP (quality is poor, but it's still really cool to see this!) and image gallery.
In my original Amazon review I ended up passing over a lot of the extras, so for that, I am terribly sorry.
The extras on this disc are pretty fantastic in my mind. Media Blasters/Tokyo Shock put a lot of love into pulling together all of this material.
Final Verdict:
Destroy All Monsters is one of the best Godzilla movies around. It deserves to be owned, certainly. The Blu Ray release is probably the prettiest release the movie has seen, though that's not saying much with some of the previous releases.
I've given it 4 stars because of the sloppy video (possibly not Media Blasters/Tokyo Shock's fault, I don't know). What is outstanding is the audio. Video drops the review by a star.
If you don't already own it and enjoy the film, this is definitely worth picking up. If you are OK with the video quality on prior release and don't care about the AIP dub, keep your money.
If you want the AIP English dub, this is THE release to get.
Media Blasters/Tokyo Shock did an outstanding job on this release. Pulling together the trailers, the radio spots and even the commentary shows me that they actually appreciate the release as much as many fans. The video quality is the only mar on an outstanding release and it is something I can look past, as I've since learned that the video is from Toho's own remastered (in 2008) video.
If you are a Godzilla fan, this is definitely worth the purchase price without question.
Read Best Reviews of Destroy All Monsters (1968) Here
For the 50th anniversary of Godzilla, we have a special relelease of Destroy All Monsters on DVD. This in itself is good, and an added attraction is that there's a second disc -a CD of the soundtrack. But there are two downsides:-there are no special featuers -not even a theatrical trailer.
-the dub is the poorly acted recent dub from a few years ago. The original dub is not great (what dubs are? Why, oh, why, don't they also offer subtitled versions), this one is very poorly acted, more so that usual even for these types of films.
Overall, I'd still recommend this to Godzilla fans (and I've been one since seeing King Kong vs. Godzilla in its original US showing at the drive-in when I was a kid), but it could have been so much better.
Want Destroy All Monsters (1968) Discount?
This my favorite Godzilla movie of the first, or Showa (the period in Japan in which Hirohito was emperor), series. It's got all the best giant monsters: Godzilla, King Ghidorah, Mothra, Rodan, Manda (from Atragon, one of my favs), Baragon (from Frankenstein Conquers the World), Varan (from Varan, the Unbelievable), Gorosaurus (from King Kong Escapes), Minya (ugh), and Spiega/Kumonga (from Son of Godzilla). All but Varan and Baragon get a good amount of screen time. The city destruction scenes are great and the final battle is just awesome. They all gang up on King Ghidorah and he gets a terrible beating. The aliens are the usual people in silly suits. The plot is really just a means to an end. I don't mind, though. The movie is a lot of fun. That's what counts. The DVD has no extras and uses the international dubbing (cheap, poorly done), which is Toho's fault (they don't want Japanese buying this DVD before they put out their own). The video is good. The colors are vibrant, picture is sharp, but there are a good amount of scratches and lines in some parts. The audio is mono, but the dialogue and the great score by Akira Ifukube aren't are clear. The cover artwork is mediocre. Not very detailed, but it features a good amount of monsters. There aren't any menus, it just takes you to the movie. At least there's a keep case.Movie: 10 out of 10 Video: 8 1/2 Audio: 7 Presentation: 5 Extras: 0 Overall: 8 out of 10. Get it if you're a Godzilla fan.
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