Gamera DVD

not a catchy title, but that's OK, it's about Gamera!

Gamera sinks the ship!

it's odd that my professional monster career (such as it is) has been more associated with Gamera than Godzilla.  I like Gamera, and love several of his movies, but you know, he's not Godzilla.  or Ultraman. or... well, you get the picture. 

and yet I have had my name on two different Gamera projects now.  the first was the Gamera vs Guillon (aka Gamera vs Guiron and Attack of the Monsters) VHS tape from Neptune Media.  this was an excellent presentation, especially at the time.  widescreen and complete with original AIP-TV English dub from the fine folk at Titan/Titra.  my involvement there was completely accidental, I was writing an overview of the Gamera series for Scary Monsters magazine and I sent it to Neptune.  Bill Ferguson called me and asked if he could use the introduction as liner notes. done and done!  

some day I will present those notes here.

menace!

and now I have a special thanks for the fine new DVD from Shout! Factory of Gamera: the Giant Monster.  I highly recommend this DVD, as it's really great.  the picture is astounding as is the sound.  

there is a great documentary on the original Gamera series, talking to the director, the late, great Noriaki Yuasa. that alone is worth the price of the disc, since the movie on it's own merits isn't that great.  Gamera's best movies are a few years away (yes, that means the next two are not the best ones, deal with it).  Gamera has never looked better.

a lot has been written about the lack of the US version, Gammera The Invincible.  while I wish that it had been included, it's not like a good copy can't be found in various places (and I don't mean the 16mm versions floating around).