# It's COMING! It's Rising From The Sea! IT'S ...GOJIRA!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 6, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coming-its-rising-from-the-sea-its-gojira/371651 "2006-09-06T16:26:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coming-its-rising-from-the-sea-its-gojira/371651/1 "2006-09-06T16:26:46Z")
No. Not Godzilla. _Gojira_. The original, b&w Japanese Kaiju flic is available, unedited, in the US for the very first time! > **[Amazon.com: Gojira / Godzilla, King of the Monsters : Akira Takarada, Akihiko...](https://www.amazon.com/Gojira-Godzilla-Monsters-Akira-Takarada/dp/B000FA4TLQ)** > > Product Description This package contains: \* Godzilla (1954 Japanese Edition-english subtitles) \* King of the Monsters (1956 U.S. Release Edtion-english v/o dub) Featuring: \* Audio commentaries \* Original trailers \*"Making of the Suite"... What’s the difference? [ol] [li]No Raymond Burr[/li][li]19 minutes longer[/li][li]Additional scenes of the Monster[/li][li]Spooky, atmospheric.[/li][li]Plot actually makes sense! YAY![/li][/ol] My copy is…arriving _all too soon!_ Via that free Amazon Prime offer they made me. I decided not to keep it, but all backordered items shipped free/2 day. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coming-its-rising-from-the-sea-its-gojira/371651/2 "2006-09-06T17:50:54Z")
I saw it in a theater two Halloweens ago. It’s a lot of fun. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coming-its-rising-from-the-sea-its-gojira/371651/3 "2006-09-06T17:57:59Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I saw it in a theater two Halloweens ago. It’s a lot of fun. Me too. The Big Screen experience is a blast for kaiju films. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![RumMunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coming-its-rising-from-the-sea-its-gojira/371651/4 "2006-09-06T18:06:51Z")
That’s weird… in Canada we have to wait until the 19th of Setember, but [our version has ‘Godzilla King of Monsters’ on the second disc](http://www.amazon.ca/Godzilla-Gojira-Deluxe-Collectors-set/dp/B000FA4TLQ/sr=8-1/qid=1157565786/ref=pd_ka_1/701-3314046-7925113?ie=UTF8&s=gateway). Amazon in the US [doesn’t list that](http://www.amazon.com/Godzilla-Gojira-Deluxe-Collectors-2-DVD-set/dp/B000FA4TLQ/sr=8-10/qid=1157565961/ref=sr_1_10/002-8963895-1435267?ie=UTF8&s=dvd) as a bonus feature. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coming-its-rising-from-the-sea-its-gojira/371651/5 "2006-09-06T18:09:11Z")
> [@RumMunkey](#): > > That’s weird… in Canada we have to wait until the 19th of Setember, but [our version has ‘Godzilla King of Monsters’ on the second disc](http://www.amazon.ca/Godzilla-Gojira-Deluxe-Collectors-set/dp/B000FA4TLQ/sr=8-1/qid=1157565786/ref=pd_ka_1/701-3314046-7925113?ie=UTF8&s=gateway). > > Amazon in the US [doesn’t list that](http://www.amazon.com/Godzilla-Gojira-Deluxe-Collectors-2-DVD-set/dp/B000FA4TLQ/sr=8-10/qid=1157565961/ref=sr_1_10/002-8963895-1435267?ie=UTF8&s=dvd) as a bonus feature. Yes it does. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coming-its-rising-from-the-sea-its-gojira/371651/6 "2006-09-06T18:20:29Z")
We Americans get the American version too. > [@Amazon.com](#): > > The first of the Godzilla movies, and the most somber and serious in tone, Gojiro was originally a 98-minute Japanese horror film, until a U.S. company bought the rights and reissued the film at 79 minutes, replacing sequences involving a Japanese reporter with new inserts of a dour, pipe-smoking Raymond Burr. Both versions appear together for the first time in this release from Sony Wonder. Thanks for reminding me about this- I just added both versions to my Netflix queue. Beware Gojira! He is coming! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coming-its-rising-from-the-sea-its-gojira/371651/7 "2006-09-06T18:58:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Gojira. > > The original, b&w Japanese Kaiju flic is available, unedited, in the US for the very first time! I’ve had this on VHS – no Burr, it has English subtitles, extra footage – for over six years. I think it’s not a bootleg – I bought it in an anime store, but the only credit it gives is to Toho studios. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coming-its-rising-from-the-sea-its-gojira/371651/8 "2006-09-06T23:05:13Z")
Gojira…is HERE! Arrived today. I watch it tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2006, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coming-its-rising-from-the-sea-its-gojira/371651/9 "2006-09-06T23:26:15Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ve had this on VHS – no Burr, it has English subtitles, extra footage – for over six years. I think it’s not a bootleg – I bought it in an anime store, but the only credit it gives is to Toho studios. Yeah I’ve been watching the original Japanese version off of VHS taht I bought at Sam Goody back inthe mid 90s. Now if it had Godzilla Raids Again the first sequel with it I’d be in heaven. I always liked the sequel because the Japanese male hero had a goofy blonde American sidekick. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coming-its-rising-from-the-sea-its-gojira/371651/10 "2006-09-07T00:30:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Now if it had Godzilla Raids Again the first sequel with it I’d be in heaven. > I always liked the sequel because the Japanese male hero had a goofy blonde American sidekick. Got that one on VHS, too. When I was a kid, though, the title was **Gigantis, the Fire Monster** , although I heard that an alternate title was **The Volcano Monsters**. I never heard this corny “Godzilla Raids Again” title until it appeared on video. Interesting, generally overlooked flick (because it’s been played pretty rarely on TV since the 1960s). first time Godzilla fights another monster (Anzilla), long before **King Kong Vs. Godzilla**. First time they just dubbed the Japanese version. First sequel. And Godzilla’s got Waaaaaayyyyy too many teeth! (They used the name “Gigantis” because another American distributor had “Godzilla” sewn up.) I even have a trading card with a scene from this one it! ---
**Author:** ![RumMunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coming-its-rising-from-the-sea-its-gojira/371651/11 "2006-09-07T00:31:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Yes it does. D’oh! I was looking at the “DVD Features section”, didn’t scroll down all the way. > [@](#): > > DVD Features: > > ``` > * Available Subtitles: English > * Available Audio Tracks: Japanese (Dolby Digital 1.0) > > ``` Still annoyed that ours isn’t out for a few more weeks though. I wonder if they moved up the street date. For some reason I want this, but I’ve never actually seen either movie (just a sequel on TV at some point I think). ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coming-its-rising-from-the-sea-its-gojira/371651/12 "2006-09-07T02:25:30Z")
Oh, we are definitely getting it! We have collected a bunch of Toho films, as both kids are huge Godzilla fans! I heard about a local Godzilla Con well afterwards, ;( , so I’ll have to pay more attention next time. The 7 year old will think he’s died and gone to heaven! ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2006, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-coming-its-rising-from-the-sea-its-gojira/371651/13 "2006-09-24T04:11:03Z")
Much like Gojira himself, this thread rises so I may tell my opinion- _Gojira_ is pretty damn good! It works as both a _gaiju_ giant-monster funfest and a very powerful allegory about nuclear war and deadly weapons- both the atomic bomb which brings Godzilla/Gojira to life (and the real Bomb as well) and the important weapon which could kill him, but could also kill others. And looking at the scenes of Tokyo in the wreckage, you can really feel what the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki felt. As for the American version, _Godzilla: King of the Monsters!_, it may be the fact that I watched it a day after I watched _Gojira_, but I found myself thinking the same thing I thought a number of years ago when I first watched in on TV: this film is dull. Somehow, the exciting and capitivating Japanese film becomes lifeless in its American incarnation. I think I know where I can lay the blame: Steve Martin. No, not the “wild and crazy” comedian, but an American news reporter of that name played by Raymond Burr. This film is almost _Rozencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead_ to _Gojira’s_ _Hamlet_: all of the events are being retold through the eyes of Martin. However, Martin also _narrates_ the entire story, which I think is the reason the film flounders- why tell us something when you can show it happening instead? And the poor insertion of Martin into pre-filmed Japanese scenes is almost comical- you can make a drinking game out of how many times the camera cuts to an Unnecessary Raymond Burr Shot during the course of the movie. Watch it after you’ve seen _Gojira_ to see how editing can destroy a good story. (Other interesting changes: most references to nuclear attacks are removed, the ending is happy rather than forbidding, and some of the events are changed. Godzilla attacks Tokyo twice in the American version.) Classic Media, which owns the rights to the Showa-era Toho films, will be releasing five more throughout 2006/2007, in both Japanese and American forms. Coming up next on November 7 are _Godzilla Raids Again/Gigantis the Fire Monster_ and _Mothra vs. Godzilla/Godzilla vs. The Thing_. Visit [the official site](http://www.godzillaondvd.com/) for more.