Had a great, great time at G-FEST.  By all accounts, that is the general feeling from most attendees.  The Guest of Honor, Akira Takarada, was received with great excitement and he elivered.  A true professional, he treated the fans like they were the celebrities.  A great man and a great guest.

Pictures and more info to follow soon.

Several websites have posted this story with photos of a possible design for Legendary's 2012 Godzilla from many media outlets. I personally don't think the real thing would come out without a lot of fanfare on the part of Legendary.   They have made it very clear that they will not be repeating the mistakes made by Tri-Star in 1998 and intend on remaining faithful to the iconic character that has been popular around the world for over half a century.

I think when they do unveil their Godzilla design, it will be accompanied by footage, press releases and at least one still.

That said, this does look cool.

Godzilla fandom was buzzing this afternoon after news broke that Legendary Pictures, the studio behind the latest Batman films, 300 and The Hangover, in a joint venure with Warner Brothers and Toho Company Ltd, would be rebooting the Godzilla series with a new film they hope to release in 2012.  Most encouraging to fans who were sorely disappointed by the 1998 Tri-Star debacle was the quote from Legendary Chairman and CEO, Thomas Tull...

"Godzilla is one of the world's most powerful pop culture icons, and we at Legendary are thrilled to be able to create a modern epic based on this long-loved Toho franchise.  Our plans are to produce the Godzilla that we, as fans, would want to see. We intend to do justice to those essential elements that have allowed this character to remain as pop culturally relevant for as long as it has."

After the thumbing of their noses by Dean Devlin and Rolland Emmerich at the 22 films that came before theirs and the elitist attitude they displayed towards the real Gojira, only to release a steaming pile of crap dubbed GINO (Godzilla In Name Only) by Godzilla fan Richard Pusateri, Mr. Tull sounds like he's one of us and that he gets it.  This presents a real breath of fresh air.  Warner Brothers PIctures President Jeff Robinov added "Godzilla is emblematic of the kind of branded, event films for which Warner Bros. and our partners at Legendary are best known."

Could this be the Hollywood Godzilla film that fans have waited for?  Could this film turn out great and make up for the ill will created by the Devlin/Emmerich junk-fest?  Only time will tell but it is off to a great start.

More coverage at The Hollywood Reporter, Obsessed With Film and Coming Soon.

Fans of Kaiju Eiga or Japanese Giant Monster films are buzzing with yesterday's announcement of Shout Factory's May 18th DVD release of Daiei Motion Picture Company’s 1965 film Dai Kaiju Gamera in North America as Gamera, The Giant Monster.  The company has licensed all eight films in the series.  Announced in their press release are the details of the DVD. 

From Japan, the country that brought us such mythical movie monsters as Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra, storms Gamera, the titanic terrapin feared by adults and loved by children. On May 18, 2010, Shout! Factory will unleash GAMERA, THE GIANT MONSTER Special Edition on DVD for the first time in its unedited, original version, with English subtitles — in anamorphic widescreen from an all-new HD master. The DVD includes a 12-page booklet with an essay by the late director Noriaki Yuasa, a photo gallery, trailers, and more. The collectible GAMERA, THE GIANT MONSTER Special Edition DVD is priced to own at $19.93.

That news was exciting enough.  Now today comes news that August Ragone, author of the great EIJI TSUBURAYA: MASTER OF MONSTERS, is the disc's Special Features Producer.  According to his blog, he has "assembled an international rag-tag unit of die-hard fans, known as the "Z Plan Team", who have been working overtime in gathering as much information and materials on the original films as possible for the on-disc Special Features supplements (as well as the corresponding printed booklets), and we have uncovered tons of fascinating facts and trivia about the production of Daiei's beloved series."  August has also record the first of multiple comentaries for the film.

This is a very exciting announcement as the Gamera films have only been available in North America as faded, public domain, AIP Televison versions on DVD.  Now we will see them looking better than most of us have seen before with the original Japanese language and English subtitles. 

Gamera is really neat, he is made of turtle meat.  Great news.

I received the Godzilla Heisei Series DVD boxset from Eastern Eye today.  Eastern Eye is a branch of Madman Entertainment of Australia that distributes Asian films on video.  With the Heisei Series, the 1990s Godzilla films are released as Western Godzilla fans can only wish Sony had.

The set includes the five 1990s films, Godzilla vs King Ghidorah, Godzilla vs Mothra, Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla, Godzilla vs Space Godzilla and Godzilla vs Destroyah.  Each film is presented in it's original 16x9 aspect ratio with Japanese 5.1 audio, dual mono and English 2.0 with English Subtitles.  Extras include trailers, stills and poster galleries. 

Each disc is a dual layer DVD-9.  Now the catch.  To watch this set, you must have a DVD player that can play all regions and play a PAL DVD as Australia is in DVD region 4 and broadcasts their TV signals in PAL format.  I have an OPPO DV-980H 1080p Up-Converting Universal DVD Player. 

So far, we have watched Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla.  To put it mildly, I have never heard is sound or see it look this good.  The 5.1 audio mix jumps from the sound system and puts you in the middle of the action.  The fight between Godzilla and Rodan on Adonoa Island is amazing.  Helicopters fly around the speakers as the explosions shake the walls.  Very impressive.

Also impressive is the cost of the set.  With shipping direct from Madman, it cost right around $50.  That's a nice price for a five disc set of thsi quality.  This set comes highly recommended.  Until Sony re-releases these films in North America, this is as good as it will get for Western fans looking for these films with English Subtitles.

Two box sets with the Showa series from the 1960s and 70s have also been released,  Order your copy today.

November 3, 1954...  Dateline Tokyo, Japan (hello).  A film is released that unknown at the time would create a cultural icon that would span 28 films (and holding).  On this date, 55 years ago, Gojira was released in theaters in Japan.  It would be released two years later in a "westernized" version with the name changed to Godzilla, introducing the titular character to amazed, dinosaur starved youths across the globe.

Many of the youths have now grown up and continued to enjoy Godzilla.  Once you're hooked, it's difficult to completely let go.  In the years that I have been going to G-FEST, the annual convention of Japanese Science Fiction films such as Godzilla, Gamera and Ultraman, I have met folks from many different walks of life and ages.  Most of us continue to attend year after year.  Some of us have become involved with the convention as committee members.

I have been interviewed by several newspapers doing promotion for G-FEST over that past 8 years.  One question they always ask is what got me interested in Godzilla.  That is the question of the ages.  I was a dinosaur nut as a child.  Like most kids who grew up in the 1960s and 70s, Godzilla movies were around us at the theater and on television with regularity.  For me, Godzilla has always been there.  There was no moment of discovery that I recall. It has always been there.

Godzilla first took a break in the late 70s only to be reborn in 1985 (US).  During the down time, other things took Godzilla's place, temporarily.  It was a good time in my life for some Godzilla down time.  I discovered there were bands to enjoy outside of the Beatles and Top-40 radio.  I learned to play guitar and played in bands.  Sadly, I lost touch with Godzilla for a time but I didn't lose the love.

In 1985, the King returned and so did the attention he deserved from me.  I saw Godzilla 1985 in a crowed theater full of college students at Purdue that year.  I picked up a 6 inch Imperial Godzilla that adorned Fraternity room shelves and sat on shelf in my home in a compromising position with Gumby for years.

Then in 1995, I walked into a comic store and found a copy of G-FAN magazine, issue number 13.  This was a defining moment in my adult love of Godzilla.  I had picked up grainy bootleg videos of the early 1990s films from outfits like Video Search of Miami, that advertised in the back of movie mags, but G-FAN took things to a whole new level.  G-FAN showed me that the legion of Godzilla fans was huge and that legion was made of people who were just like me. 

The great thing was the magazine sponsored G-CON '95, the first North American convention of Godzilla fans.  Going was like a breath of fresh air.  I met people at that first convention that I still call friends to this day.  Over the years, I have met other folks at G-CON and then G-FEST.  I may not know what it is that first drew me to Godzilla but I know that what keeps me interested to this day has as much to do with the monster as it does the friends I've made as a result of the monster.

I passed my love of Godzilla to my children.  As they say the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree.  I'm sure as they grow older, they will follow the same path I did and hopefully will pass on their love of Godzilla to their children.

So Happy 55th Birthday Godzilla.  You have brought so much happiness to my life and have asked for nothing in return.  That is a true friend.

I love eBay and their plethora of unlicensed goodies.  This one arrived in the mailbox today from an outfit called Watchapalooza.

The weekend has ended and so has G-FEST XVI.  It was a great weekend that went off glitch free.  Friendships were renewed and new one established.  From all occounts, this year's convention was a great success.

Pre-registrations were down slightly but the traffic at the registration desk was steady throughout.

It was great to see GMK, The Mysterians and Godzilla vs the Thing on the big screen at the Pickwick theater in Park Ridge.

Lastly, being there as Mr. Kenji Sahara was awarded the Mangled Skyscraper Award was a real treat.

We move to a new home at the Wyndham O'Hare next year from July 9-11th. 

And so the spring keeps coming down over and over and over....  There was record rainfall over night in Chicago.  It is raining again now.  Like I said a few days ago, the mosquitoes are gearing up to take over the world.  The village considered eliminating the mosquito spraying this year to save money.  They have since wisely changed their minds.

The final touches of G-FEST prep is going strong.  We're very excited but at this stage of the game we just want it to start.  Only two weeks until G-FEST.  If you haven't already made plans, what are you waiting for?