Gamera VHS Dealer Flyer with Ads (Celebrity Entertainment, 1987)

"Turtle Power is Coming!"

Let's turn our attention to Gamera for a moment! Here is a really cool 4-page flyer that would have been sent to retailers in 1987.  It was made by Celebrity Entertainment to promote two of their newest Gamera releases, GAMERA vs. GAOS and GAMERA vs. ZIGRA.  I like how the front looks like a boxing promotion, showing rounds "3 and 4" (nevermind that they are out of order, as they never released all 7 vintage Gamera movies anyhow).

"CAN A VAMPIRE SUPERBAT PUT THE BITE ON SUPERTURTLE?" Why are you shouting?

Page 2 is a full-page look at GAOS, with such interesting hyperbolic text as "kamikaze charm" (ouch), "whose laser mouth is bat breath gone high-tech," and "the high-camp terror of GAMERA vs. GAOS." 

The films featured in this flyer would have been the "Sandy Frank" dubs, which collectors like me are used to calling the "Just For Kids" series (also distributed by Celebrity), although that logo appears nowhere in this artwork.  From my Ebay searching and Googling, I can only find GAMERA vs. BARUGON as coming out with both versions of the VHS box:  one that includes the "Just For Kids" logo, and one that does not.  Perhaps by the time GAOS and ZIGRA made it to market, all of Celebrity's Gamera movies were under the "Just For Kids" banner. I will have to keep watch in case any turn up.

Another oddity:  I have in my notes that what we know as the "Sandy Frank" dub of GAOS is, in reality, the 1960's Hong Kong dub.  I'd like to tell you which scholarly book or website gave me that factoid, but I have no citation, unfortunately.

"...from the land of the rising turtle." Say what?

Page 3 spotlights GAMERA vs. ZIGRA, and all I can think about is the small urchin in the film saying "I want a Coke!" It's clear that Celebrity is having fun with Gamera in these ads: "A talking shark from outer space sends Superturtle into orbit."

This would be an actual Sandy Frank dub, and a pretty bad one at that*.  Used in a quite famous MST3K, but then again all 5 of Celebrity's tapes were.

The back page repeats some of the text from the flyer, and gives the dealer a few reproducible ad slicks that they can use in their own ads or catalogs...or newsletters. You remember mail about VHS, don't you?
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*I don't care; Sandy Frank brought BATTLE OF THE PLANETS to America, so he's tops in my book.