The Lowdown On This "GODZILLA vs THE SMOG MONSTER" DVD...

Have you seen this DVD, in places like Amazon or Ebay? Have you wondered what was up with it? I had wondered for a long time, and I broke down and spent a whole four dollars and 80 cents to find out...here goes:

1) Could it be a copy of the American version of the film, on a factory-made DVD?  Nope. Firstly, the cover says "GODZILLA vs THE SMOG MONSTER," and shows Godzilla 2000...that's a little bit like putting Harry Truman on the front of your George Washington biography, but I suppose we can overlook it for the time being.  Nevertheless, it's our first clue that something is amiss.

2) I should point out that the title of "SMOG MONSTER" is incorrect here.  SMOG MONSTER can mean only one glorious thing, and that is the AIP dub that played in American theaters and on American TV for years.  This, my friends, is GODZILLA vs HEDORAH, specifically, Toho's (inferior) International dub of the film. 

3) Even though the tiny screenshots on the back cover are a convenient 4:3, this film is letterboxed...I haven't done a subtitle comparison, but it looks to me that this is a complete bootleg of Sony's 2004 DVD, which was re-released by Kraken in 2014, and is still available! In short, this disc should not exist.

4) Finally, since this film is one of a handful that is unavailable on DVD in its classic American version, if you want the AIP dub, you have two choices:  track down one of two VHS versions, OR, there are some fan-made projects out there that sync the AIP dub to a widescreen print of the film:  seek, and you shall find!

Orion Home Video's official 1989 release of the AIP dub!

The following year, Simitar released a legal (or semi-legal?) budget version. I've always assumed it was at least semi-legal, because eight years later, they were allowed to license a whole pile of Godzilla films!