Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55505 in DVD
• Released on: 1998-05-06
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Color, Full Screen, Mono, NTSC, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Dubbed in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 93 minutes

Amazon.com
In the darkness behind Jupiter there lurks a heretofore undiscovered planet, Planet X, boasting beings of superior intelligence. The Planet X-ers are forced to live underground because of the havoc wreaked on the surface by Ghidra, the three-headed monster. Once discovered by our astronauts, including the ultra-hip Nick Adams (spouting such phrases as "That's right, baby!" with innocent conviction), the Planet X-ers propose that they transport Godzilla and Rodan from Earth to their planet to help rid them of the Ghidra menace. Only, as it turns out, they have a dastardly plan to use the bipedal behemoth and his flighty friend to conquer the Earth, harnessing their destructive force with "magnetic waves." And it almost works, but for the ingenuity... well, you get it. There can be no better way to spend a Saturday afternoon than watching monsters battle it out, while Nick Adams speaks in his accustomed English to others speaking dubbed English (really Japanese), like they all know what each other is saying. The DVD gives you a choice of cropped-screen or letterboxed in scrumptious Tohoscope, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround or Mono, and some more extras. It is also available in a boxed set with four of the better Godzilla flicks by director Inoshiro Honda. --Jim Gay

Customer Reviews

Simitar DVD
VIDEO QUALITY:
Once again a two sided disc from Simitar. Side 1 contains the full screen TV version of "Godzilla vs. Monster Zero" and Side 2 contains the original 2.35:1 widescreen version. Sadly, Side 2 is not anamorphically enhanced. Side 1's image is as you would expect - rubbish. You loose over half the image, the print has bad colouration and print damage. It will still hold some nostalgia for those that grew up with is though. Side 2 looks reasonably good, with vivid colours and a generally sharp image. At times there can be quite a lot of grain on screen though, and during some of the effects sequences it looks like someone dropped the print, stepped on it a could of times, attempted to rub it clean with a dirty sweatshirt and rammed it back in the machine... I'll stop drinking so much coffee... As with all Simitar discs, there was also quite a lot of artifacting, most notably on Side 2 unfortunately. There was also the occasional rainbow effect, though it was very rare on this disc, and you wouldn't find it unless you were looking for it.

AUDIO QUALITY:
Side 1 comes packed with the original mono track, which sounds like it was kept in very good condition. There wasn't any trace of crackling, hissing, fuzzing or any other kind of wear. The only problem I could really notice was a little distortion when the sound became slightly loud, but then I doubt this mono track was exactly designed for home cinema systems with such huge subwoofers. Side 2 contains both the original mono track and an all new 5.1 track designed by Simitar. The mono track on this side is on par with Side 1, if not slightly better. The 5.1 track is pretty much the same as the mono, in fact I hardly noticed anything different about it at all. Some of the sound effects during the battles had a little more bass, and there were some new sound effects during the military battles that really sounded odd and didn't blend well with the film, though that's really the extent of this track's differences.

EXTRA FEATURES:
Again, it carries the same basic features as all Simitar discs: There are several Godzilla screen savers included for DVD-ROM users, which are only compatible with Windows® 95 machines. There are also some custom trailers Simitar designed for their Godzilla releases, which are made in a cheesy 1950's American monster movie style. There is a video art gallery, and for DVD-ROM users a printable art gallery, which is fairly interesting, as well as a short trivia game to rest your knowledge on the film.

OVERALL:
This is probably one of the better Simitar releases. Simitar claim to have remastered this from the original source (presumably they mean the American source), which doesn't give you much comfort that we'll ever see anything better than this. Despite that, you're getting the film in widescreen with a reasonably good image and some very nice audio - add to that some quirky trivia games and some orchestrated image galleries you've got a reasonably good disc.

This one is just plain fun
This is one of my favorite Godzilla movies of all time. Monster Zero (better known as King Ghidorah) is to my eyes the most impressive foe Godzilla ever fought. Maybe it's just me, but the special effects of Ghidorah are stellar, much better than those of Godzilla himself. The plot features about everything I want in a good old-fashioned monster movie: weird aliens, a foe with an evil laugh, wanton destruction, and some funny poses and gestures from Godzilla. Of course, the whole story about a planet being discovered just on the other side of Jupiter is sort of silly, but who really cares? This is Godzilla we are talking about. One thing I could not figure out was why the aliens went to the trouble of transporting Godzilla and Rodan to their planet, only to bring them right back to Earth; it seems like they could have taken control of the monsters right here, especially since they had already set up a secret base in Japan.

There are a few drawbacks to the film. A regular red-headed American is featured prominently in the story (as opposed to being pasted in after the fact a la Raymond Burr), and he does a very good job of showing why Americans just do not belong in Godzilla movies. He really got on my nerves, to tell the truth... All in all, this movie is great fun for all. As an added bonus, at least on my copy, there are trailers from about five other Godzilla movies at the end of the tape.

THIS MOVIE TOTALLY ROCKS!
Spectacular special effects, X aliens, Godzilla, Rodan and Ghidorah make this one a winnner!!! It all starts when two astronauts(Nick and Glenn)one being Nick Adams(!)travel to Planet X in P-1...Buy this great movie to find out what else happens!