Sony Bringing More Toho Godzilla Collection Titles to Blu-ray Along with the Mothra Trilogy

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Sony Bringing More Toho Godzilla Collection Titles to Blu-ray Along with the Mothra TrilogyWhen Sony released a slew of Heisei and Millennium series Godzilla movies as double feature Blu-rays this May, there were several noticeably absent titles. Those three films and a trio of modern Mothra flicks are finally due on Blu.

SciFi Japan reports that Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will be releasing two more entries in its Toho Godzilla Collection this September and, as an added bonus (for the dozen or so people that enjoy them, kaiju completists, or mere gluttons for punishment), all three installments of the late 90s Rebirth of Mothra trilogy.

The one and only true King of the Monsters roared not only back to life following Roland Emmerich’s 1998 Hollywood reboot debacle but also back to multiplexes in the US in Toho’s loopy relaunch Godzilla 2000. The Big G battles both the Japanese military, a UFO that looks suspiciously like a metallic bed pan, and a rubbersuit monstrosity named Orga that looks like a Jim Henson creation gone horribly awry.

While Godzilla 2000 will be the only title available on this disc, you can very much consider it a double feature since you will be getting two different versions of the film. Included will be the goofily dubbed American big screen release version that runs 99 minutes and the English-subtitled Japanese version that runs 107 minutes.

On the double feature front, the film widely hailed as the best Toho Godzilla movie of the modern era Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack gets paired with another popular entry, Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla for its Blu-ray bow.

The former from Shusuke Kaneko (aka the director of the highly-acclaimed 90s Gamera reboot trilogy and the live-action Death Note movies) returned Godzilla to his more malevolent roots, making him an unstoppable force of supernatural vengeance that can only be defeated by the three mystical Holy Beasts of Yamato: Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Baragon. When Ghidorah is cast as one of the good monsters, you know Godzilla’s gone super bad.

The Millennium series reboot of the MechaGodzilla rivalry also delves into the metaphysical by having this MechaGodzilla (now called “Kiryu”) being a melding of cybernetics and the skeleton of the original 1954 Godzilla disintegrated by the Oxygen Destroyer. There’s still some life left in those bones and that causes even bigger problems for the Japanese military. There’s also a very depressed child way too attached to a plant helping to make this perhaps the most emo of all Godzilla movies.

Sure, it would have made far more sense to pair Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla with its direct sequel, Tokyo SOS. You’ll have to take that up with the folks at Sony.

Then, because why the hell not, they’re going to release Rebirth of Mothra 1, 2, and 3 together on one Blu-ray. Prior to the 1998 Godzilla, when the genre was in a boom period and it looked like the King of the Monsters was going to be Hollywood’s for a while, Toho hatched the idea to make a series of Mothra-centric films catering to the young girl audience. The result was a trilogy of movies that don’t get mentioned very often for good reasons – none of which are good.

If I recall correctly (I’ve only seen each of these films once a long time ago), Rebirth of Mothra featured the Queen of the Monsters battling a terrible-looking variation of King Ghidorah named Death Ghidorah whose objective is to destroy all the forests in Japan, the twin fairies befriend some children and contend with evil fairies, and there are mini-Mothra dogfights in the kids’ home. The only clear memory I have of this film is that I found it to be insufferable.

Rebirth of Mothra II I seem to remember being a smidge less hate-inducing. This one saw Earth’s guardian insect contending with a reptilian/manta pollution monster and transforming into “Aqua Mothra” in order to do so. I also have hazy memories of the movie coming to a screeching halt for a J-pop Mothra music video montage. I could have dreamt that last part but I’m not sure.

Rebirth of Mothra III, unless I’m mistaken, was the one that boasted an inane time travel plot and tried to explain that King Ghidorah single-handedly (or should I write “triple-headedly”) wiped out the dinosaurs. Honestly, I know I saw it but I’ll be damned if I remember a frame of it. I do seem to remember others claiming this one to be the best of the series for whatever reason. For the record, this is the first time this particular sequel has ever been released for home entertainment in North America.

Godzilla 2000, GMK/GxMG double feature, and the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy will arrive on Blu-ray September 9th. All will be digitally remastered in High Definition and English and Japanese audio options.

Godzilla 2000

Rebirth of Mothra

<i>Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack / Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla”></center></p>
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