Godzilla Vs Megalon (1973)

For the first time ever Godzilla vs. Megalon has an official DVD release. Yes, DVD, not Blu Ray. If youre going to wait for the Blu Ray, that is your choice, but for someone like me, a lifelong die hard Godzilla fan who flew to Burbank to meet Godzilla ( Harou Nakajima) this was a no-brainer pick up for me.

The plot is very simple. Most of you reading have seen this in some form be it VHS, TV, MST3K etc..The underwater world of Seatopia decides now is the time to strike back against Japan for all of its nuclear testing. They steal an inventors Robot named Jet Jaguar to guide the great beast, Megalon to destroy the Earth. The inventor is able to get control of Jet Jaguar just in time to get Godzilla. What we get in the payoff is Megalon and Gigan vs. Godzilla and Jet Jaguar in a tag team WWE/UFC fight.

As most of you know, the film is considered one of the, if not, the worst due to the juvenile feel this movie has, clearly made for kids. And to save a few yen, the film also boasts about 95% stock footage of city destruction scenes.

While the film itself is thought of as bad, its actually a lot of fun in a Kaiju Cult kind of a way.

As for the DVD. I was very much impressed with this widescreen transfer. Media Blasters did a tremendous job with the transfer. The movie has NEVER looked better on DVD stateside. Day scenes look great, night scenes arent too dark or black, colors are sparkling. And it is uncut, with the opening credits (in Japanese) as well as several scenes such as the boy getting kidnapped, the agent getting crushed by a rock, etc. And the ending with the song has English subs !! :)

I watched the English dubbed version and its the familiar dub and it was loud and sharp. No adjusting the remote to higher levels to listen to it it was English 2.0 , while the Japanese language has both 2.0 and 5.1

This is a barebones release with the probable release of a Blu Ray down the road. There are reasons for Media Blasters being unable to release the Blu Ray version with all the extras. These reasons can be found on Facebook, their own website, SciFi Japan, etc.

For me, this suits me just fine because it is an official release. I am a huge Godzilla fan and I want everything on DVD or Blu Ray. And while I wait for an HD version, this will proudly sit in with my other Godzilla movies, most of which are on DVD by the way. I dont like to double dip very often but with Godzilla, I will make the exception.

THIS INFO IS ACTUALLY FROM MARCH 22ND BUT IT GOT BY ME HAD A BUSY SUMMER!

Media Blasters licensed both GODZILLA VS MEGALON and DESTROY ALL MONSTERS in 2011, with MEGALON initially planned for both DVD and Blu-ray last November. But after Toho complained about some of the extra features Media Blasters included on their DESTROY ALL MONSTERS discs, MEGALON was put on hold while Toho went over the bonus content prepared for that film.

Toho has a mountain of material -including trailers, stills, publicity art, a feature length audio commentary by film historians Steve Ryfle (Japan's Favorite Mon-Star, BRINGING GODZILLA DOWN TO SIZE, ICONS OF SCI-FI: TOHO COLLECTION) and Stuart Galbraith IV (The Toho Studios Story, INVASION OF ASTRO-MONSTER DVD, TORA-SAN COLLECTOR'S SET), and an interview with English dub voice actor Ted Thomas -to review, and the approval process has moved very slowly. With no end date in sight, Toho has authorized Media Blasters to release a barebones version of GODZILLA VS MEGALON at this time. A special edition is intended for both DVD and Blu-ray once Toho has given final approvals for the extra features, however long that may take.

ALRIGHT, SO IT'S PROBABLY NOT THAT NEW TO MANY FANS, BUT WORTH ADDING TO THE FRONT OF THIS REVIEW FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW ALREADY. I'M KEEPING MY PRE-ORDER IN FOR THE BLURAY, AND FOR THE MEANTIME BOUGHT THE DVD ANYWAY. IT'S NICE TO HAVE A CLEAN COPY AND I WANT TO SUPPORT MEDIA BLASTERS HOWEVER POSSIBLE. KEEP THE FAITH!

This review is to try once more to stifle the negative rumours about this release. The previous review By Mr. Bearbomb "DVD release RUMORS FALSE!!!" written just recently on December 14th, 2011 is false itself. The DVD and Bluray ARE coming out, though obviously with a bit of a delay, as they were originally scheduled for before Christmas. The original rumour was reported early this year on August Ragone's blog information being supplied to him by a source he thought was reliable. It then turned out to be false... the denial from Media Blasters came at this point in time, which pointed out that they had been denied rights to the movie (but that was several years prior, keep in mind). August reported and apologized for this. Apparently in this small and barely significant community of Kaiju (Japanese monster) fans / collectors, there is a faction who do not like Mr Ragone, for whatever reason, and it seems as if someone might have set him up for an embarrassing mistake. This kind of behavior is petty and shameful. Chances are "Mr Bearbomb" is one of the pack. Whatever, who cares. Ironically, however, upon hearing all this stupid furor over the false rumor, Media Blasters submitted a new request for rights to release Godzilla vs Megalon along with Destroy All Monsters, and were surprised that this time Toho agreed to the request. This is when the current release was scheduled. Destroy All Monsters came out after a couple delays and Megalon is set to follow very soon.

Anyone who still doubts can go visit Scifijapan.com and read interviews with respected Toho Kaiju film historians Steve Ryfle and Stuart Galbraith IV, discussing their involvement in the project (from Nov 15th, currently on page 3 of articles). Ed Godziszewski was also involved in at least preliminary stages of producing Megalon special features. They have authored books on the subject and been involved in previous DVD releases by Sony and Classic Media. The interviews with Steve and Stuart give interesting insight into the preparation of the commentary and more. Sorry, "Mr Bearbomb," but you have no idea what you're talking about.

Finally, I'll take a general stab at this movies detractors who write it off as "the worst Godzilla movie" and other such nonsense. The bottom line here is that it's fun... just good old fashioned silliness! Now, as for the so-called "good" Kaiju movies... even the best of them are still about giant radioactive lizards, so give me a break, OK? It's true that the first wave, including Godzilla, Godzilla Raids Again, Rodan, Mothra, Varan were well crafted, interesting and fun monster sci-fi movies, with a small bit of genuine horror feeling to them, but with the notable exception of Godzilla vs Mothra in 64, things pretty much went straight downhill from there. from 1962's Godzilla vs King Kong through to 1975's Terror Of Mechagodzilla they were ALL silly. I mean, if you don't have a healthy appreciation of campy genre films (psychotronic fare for the more informed among us), then how can you really call yourself a Godzilla fan anyway??? The fact that Godzilla vs Megalon is the "worst" or "most campy" or "silliest" for me makes it one of the best. I just have an uproarious good time watching this movie, whatever the quality of the release. And the fact that it's now coming out in a 2-disc package with a well-researched commentary and additional supplementary features is the icing on the cake of my Kaiju collection. To h*** with the naysayers, I for one can't wait, and I encourage any casual Godzilla fans to grab this release, grab a seat on the couch with your kids and some popcorn, and have a great time! Cheers, everybody!

Buy Godzilla Vs Megalon (1973) Now

This is a review of the Tokyo Shock version released in August 2012. The wait is finally over! There is no point in describing the plot. If you are interested in purchasing this movie you already know the cheese factor is through the roof. Unfortunately, there are no extras's in this version. Total bare-bones package. The film transfer looks crystal clear. So clear you can see the strings holding up Megalon in a few scenes. Stock footage scenes look older yet still clear (i.e. army tank scenes from other G films). The not so special effects are even funnier with the high quality transfer. The film is presented in wide screen format. The sound is clear sounding with the option of Japanese with yellow English subtitles. Get ready to laugh out loud at this remastered classic. The funny song at the end of the film is in Japanese.

Read Best Reviews of Godzilla Vs Megalon (1973) Here

First off I am sick of clowns trying to break this film down like they are Roger Ebert. If you are a fan of the genre you know what your getting yourself into. Who cares about the plot and how loosely written it is. I don't care how the monsters get into the ring or why Jet Jaguar can change like Ant Man and grow like a Giant. I just want to see a Monster Street Fight and watch Godzilla throw the leg drop on Meglon! I also want to see an Ultraman knock off who backs up his boy who happens to be a Giant Firebreathing lizard he just met. Hey for all I know this robot is just playing the role of a good Samaritan and preventing a monster from getting jumped by 2 punks. Anyway you try to spin it, just sit back and enjoy the mullet infested Carnie fair ride for what it is.......a ride on the Gravitron!

Want Godzilla Vs Megalon (1973) Discount?

SciFi Japan is reporting that a bare bones edition (DVD not Blu Ray) will be released Aug 14, 2012. Media Blasters and Toho are still in negotiations over the content of the Blu Ray edition, so it will eventually be released. As to when is anybodies guess, but I will wait for the Blu Ray edition since I hate double dipping DVD's

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