Editing Terror of Mechagodzilla (section)

==English version==
[[Image:TerrorofGodzilla.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Bob Conn Enterprises' theatrical poster for the 1978 U.S. release of ''The Terror of Godzilla''. The images of the monsters come from a promotional still for ''[[Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla]]''.<ref>[http://www.scene-stealers.com/columns/overlooked-movie-monday/overlooked-movie-monday-godzilla-vs-mecha-godzilla-1974/ 1974's 'Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla' is One of the Best of the Series]</ref>]]

Toho titled its English version of the film ''Terror of Mechagodzilla'' and had it dubbed into English in Hong Kong. This “international version” has never seen wide release in the United States, but has been issued on VHS in the United Kingdom by PolyGram Video Ltd.<ref>[http://www.tohokingdom.com/articles/art_boxart_1950-1960.htm#sog2pack_polygram Son of Godzilla (1967) and Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)]</ref> and on DVD in Taiwan by Power Multimedia.<ref>[http://www.digitalmonsterisland.com/terror_of_mg_tailent.html Digital Monster Island - Terror of MechaGodzilla (Power Multimedia / Tailent Video & Multimedia) DVD Review]{{dead link|date=May 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

The film was given a North American theatrical release in March 1978 by independent distributor Bob Conn Enterprises under the title ''The Terror of Godzilla''. Just as Cinema Shares had done with the previous three ''Godzilla'' movies, Bob Conn Enterprises chose to utilize the Toho-commissioned English dub instead of hiring a new crew to re-dub the film. ''The Terror of Godzilla'' was heavily edited to obtain a "G" rating from the [[MPAA]]. Several scenes with violent content were entirely removed, disrupting the flow of the narrative.{{sfn|Ryfle|1998|pp=205-206}}

[[Henry G. Saperstein]], who sold the theatrical rights to Bob Conn Enterprises, also released the film to television in late 1978, this time under Toho's international title, ''Terror of Mechagodzilla''. Unlike ''The Terror of Godzilla'', the television version remained mostly uncut, with only the shot of Katsura's naked breasts excised. Saperstein's editors also added a 10-minute prologue that served as a brief history of Godzilla, with footage from Saperstein's English versions of ''[[Invasion of Astro-Monster]]'' and ''[[All Monsters Attack]]'' (the latter of which utilized stock footage from both ''[[Ebirah, Horror of the Deep]]'' and ''[[Son of Godzilla]]'').{{sfn|Ryfle|1998|pp=204}}

In the mid-1980s, the U.S. television version, ''Terror of Mechagodzilla'', was replaced by the theatrical edit, ''The Terror of Godzilla'', on television and home video. For some reason, the title was also changed to ''Terror of Mechagodzilla''.{{sfn|Ryfle|1998|pp=205}} The 1994 Paramount release of ''Terror of Mechagodzilla'' listed a running time of 89 minutes on the slipcase, implying that this release would be the longer version first shown on American TV. The actual video cassette featured the edited theatrical version.{{sfn|Kalat|1997|p=146}} In a 1995 interview with ''G-Fan'' magazine, Saperstein was surprised to hear about this mistake.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.historyvortex.org/SapersteinInterview.html|title = An Interview with Henry G. Saperstein &#124; the History Vortex|date = 28 March 2008}}</ref> In 1997 on [[Channel 4]] in the U.K., three Godzilla movies were shown back to back late at night, starting with ''[[Godzilla vs. Megalon]]'', ''[[Godzilla vs. Gigan]]'' and then ''Terror of Mechagodzilla''; all were dubbed versions. This showing was uncut, including the Katsura nudity scene, but it did not have the Western-made prologue.

In the mid-2000s, the television version showed up again on [[Monsters HD]], and in 2007, it made its home video debut as the U.S. version on the [[Classic Media]] DVD. Although the added prologue was originally framed for fullscreen television, it was cropped and shown in widescreen on the disc. The rest of the movie featured the audio from Saperstein's television version synced to the video from the Japanese version.<ref>[http://www.tohokingdom.com/dvd/tomg_cm08.html DVD: Terror of Mechagodzilla (Classic Media)]</ref>

The first article about the movie's storyline was published in [[Japanese Giants]] #4 [https://archive.org/details/japanese-giants-issue-4/page/n19/mode/2up] in 1977, edited and published by Bradford G. Boyle, and was written by Richard H. Campbell, creator of ''The Godzilla Fan News Letter'' (a.k.a. "The Gang").