I saw all three of these movies on Netflix and really didn't like them. But I decided to pick them up on DVD when they appeared available on Ebay. Godzilla: Monster Planet, Godzilla: City On The Edge of Battle, and Godzilla: The Planet Eater.

I watched them again after the DVDs arrived. And it was a night and day difference between them and what I saw on Netflix. So much that it transformed my opinion of the trilogy completely.

The Netflix versions were heavily censored for US audiences. Cutting out entire pieces of the plot that some groups in the United States saw as problematic. But in doing so, they butchered the entire flow of the trilogy. It was just bad. And I think Netflix should be ashamed of themselves.

The Planet Eater was the worse effected. But there were changes to the first two movies that were noticable when all three were put side by side.

The Exif. The second alien group in the trilogy. They were revealed to have been manipulating humanity through religion since almost the stone age. To their own sinister intent. This was foundational to the trilogy. Not something that could be brushed off as an afterthought.

I saw it on Netflix and liked the first one a bit, then hated the other two as it seemed everyone got hit with the stupid evil stick.

I did not know Netflix censored movies?

Quote from: Omega;1083660I did not know Netflix censored movies?

A lot of anime is censored.

Quote from: Warboss Squee;1083706A lot of anime is censored.

Except Netflix is known for being creator driven -- Roma is basically a director's pet project that would have had difficulty in the traditional studio system, but Netflix gave them free reign to do what they wanted. So I'm surprised the Godzilla trilogy got bowdlerized, too.

I watched the series last week, and thought it had some serious problems, but also some real virtues. At heart, it's dealing with some very serious hard sf concepts, like the vast changes in the ecosystem over geologic time, and the inability to even properly conceive of the alien. The nihilism also worked quite well, with the great sense of lose, desperation, and the almost complete ineffectiveness of most responses. I didn't even mind how they incorporated the Mothra fairies.

It's the setup and justifications where the series fell down. There was just way too much backstory crammed into a quick intro. I didn't even realize there were two non-human (but humanoid) aliens until the second movie, and I still have no idea how they all got together or why they're the only survivors of the planet Earth. That's essential information, and it was skipped over or presented at x8 fast forward speed. This really hurt the third episode in particular, because the setup for the Exif was so weak. The explanations also sucked. I'm sorry, 20,000 years isn't enough time for metal dragons to evolve. And the explanation that Gozilla has replaced humanity, so the Earth is now using Godzilla as a template for creation, is just mystical gibberish. Which is particularly sad, because it wouldn't be that hard to come up with a more plausible rationale, like lateral gene transfer or nanotechnology. Same with Ghidorah, who was basically magic but didn't have to be.

Those were the parts that suffered the most from the censorship. The explanations of how everything reached that point. Swaths of it were simply cut out in the Netflix broadcast. Which is where lots of the confusion came from.

I have watched reviews of the trilogy on Youtube. And the reviewers that are US based seem to be operating from the point of view of the censored version of the trilogy. The reviewers almost to a person complained about elements that were directly impacted by the censorship, They don't really seem to know that an uncensored version of the trilogy exists. One where their complaints are rendered nul.

I would have never known the difference if I hadn't been such a crazy dedicated Godzilla fan. One dedicated enough to buy DVDs from overseas.

I saw them and wasn't impressed at all. The pacing was terrible, and the characters were about as compelling as a rock garden. They seemed to have some interesting concepts, but I didn't feel that they really worked as part of a finished film medium. The first one was tolerable, as it had that lead up to the big Godzilla's reveal, but that's about it. They wanted to showcase how powerful Godzilla was, but the humans and their alien allies were more of a danger to each other than Godzilla was ever portrayed as. Mecha-Godzilla as an automated fortress? Yeah, interesting concept, but doesn't make for an interesting fight, at least not the way they did it. Same for Ghidorah. There was no actual fight. It was all one side, then all the other side, like a bad wrestling match.

The pacing is one of the things I liked about the trilogy. We need more films that break the cinematic action formula, and use a different narrative flow. After all, some of the best science fiction books of all time are structured nothing like a typical film, like Roadside Picnic, The War for the Newts, or Yukikaze. The anime trilogy is certainly flawed, but the pacing is effective at highlighting the desperate struggle to survive not just as individuals but as a species, the passage of an almost inconceivable amount of time, the complete transformation of the ecosystem, Godzilla as an almost unstoppable force, and the alien nature of Ghidorah.

Mostly agree on the characters, though I suspect for different reasons. The protagonist was too much of the standard, spiky-haired, angsty hero at the center of everything. The themes of the movie would have been better served by killing him off in the first fight.

So is there a good synopsis of the uncensored version?

I thought these 3 were OK, but had many of the same complaints.

Quote from: Warboss Squee;1083706A lot of anime is censored.

Why?

What aspects in particular are triggering censorship?

Is there any pushback from the anime community?

Quote from: Omega;1083660I did not know Netflix censored movies?

Neither did I. Makes me wonder what else they are censoring. Why not fuck with lots of other movies? Maybe even old ones that aren't PC enough anymore?

More reasons to hate Netflix.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley;1083617The Netflix versions were heavily censored for US audiences. Cutting out entire pieces of the plot that some groups in the United States saw as problematic. But in doing so, they butchered the entire flow of the trilogy. It was just bad. And I think Netflix should be ashamed of themselves.

What pieces of the plot were "problematic"?

And which "groups" in the US were offended this time by the "problematic" plot elements?

And if the movies weren't even released in the US, how did Netflix even know what was "problematic"?

Ugg, I utterly hate that fucking word.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1086199What pieces of the plot were "problematic"?

And which "groups" in the US were offended this time by the "problematic" plot elements?

And if the movies weren't even released in the US, how did Netflix even know what was "problematic"?

Ugg, I utterly hate that fucking word.

I actually listed the majorly censored part of Godzilla: The Planet Eater in the first post of this thread.

The Exif were revealed as manipulating humanity through religion for their own maniacal purposes since the stone age. This was a central plot of not just the last movie. But for the whole trilogy. The censoring of this plot damaged the entire presentation.

The reason for the censorship? It was clearly to avoid offending certain religious groups in the United States.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley;1086265The reason for the censorship? It was clearly to avoid offending certain religious groups in the United States.

Not clear to me. Which ones?

Quote from: Pat;1086288Not clear to me. Which ones?

Whatever ones the corporations doing it have a bias toward. Censorship of this type is done in such broad strokes. That it tries to avoiding offense to anyone.

I still own a copy of Godzilla vs Biolannte where the translation was written with clear western religious elements being dominant. To try to crush and eclipse the philosophy that was central to that movie in that translation.

It isn't new. And the only people such hatchet-jobs favor are religious extremists.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley;1086320Whatever ones the corporations doing it have a bias toward.... And the only people such hatchet-jobs favor are religious extremists.

I don't think Chik-Fil-A or Hobby Lobby publish anime, so which corporations are involved? Because this is the entertainment industry, and I'd be shocked and dumbfounded if any major publisher was promoting extremist right wing views. Or even mildly religious views, for that matter.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley;1086265I actually listed the majorly censored part of Godzilla: The Planet Eater in the first post of this thread.

The Exif were revealed as manipulating humanity through religion for their own maniacal purposes since the stone age. This was a central plot of not just the last movie. But for the whole trilogy. The censoring of this plot damaged the entire presentation.

The reason for the censorship? It was clearly to avoid offending certain religious groups in the United States.

Sorry, I'm still confused.

LOTS of movies are anti-religion. Many movies are specific to which religion they are targeting. Many of these movies have been on Netflix. Netflix has a regular flow of comedians who shit on religions, shit on believers and celebrate atheism, and many who specifically shit on Christians and none of that is edited whatsoever.

And yanking out a core movie concept will certainly ruin the flow of everything. What a shame because that sounded like an interesting plot. It's a similar plot to a couple of concept albums by the metal band ICED EARTH about aliens who manipulated human history to erase humanity's true origins.

There's a story underneath this censorship mess. I wonder who actually authorized the hatchet job and why.