Criterion Addresses Potentially World-Ending GODZILLA Controversy
so the worst thing that has ever happened to anyone ever has just maybe happened to us (or not?): Criterion has adorned their lavish new GODZILLA release with an image of “Millennium Godzilla,” and not the original King of Monsters as seen in the 1954 film. maybe. either way, the fans are revolting (you said it, they stink on ice). famine… plague… chelsea handler… all terrible, but truly this is the worst evil to have ever visited our civilization.
one fan likened it to “putting Daniel Craig on the cover of DR. NO.”
fortunately, Criterion has taken it upon themselves to answer the pitchfork-carrying hordes:
“Artist Bill Sienkiewicz used the original, ‘54 Godzilla as reference for his artwork, but all of the renderings are nevertheless, in the end, Bill’s personal vision of the creature, albeit one that is Toho approved. We can see why some viewers consider it to be more akin to the 2002 incarnation of Godzilla because the back plates seem more sharp-pointed and jagged than the curved tips of the ‘54 original, for example, or the tail tapers more to a point, but those plates don’t exactly mirror the ones from the 2002-3 monster either.
We pushed Bill to address Godzilla as a force of destruction, an elemental being, to step away from a rendering that would be purely literal and fetishistic in detail, and think he came up with a terrific interpretation. This is also why there is color in the packaging art. Although the movie is a beautifully-photographed B&W work, we kept leaning towards the elemental aspects of fire and water and wanted the color palette to evoke that.”so… there ya have it. will they stick to their guns, will they include a note in future printings, or will they scrap this design entirely making this release something of a collector’s item? only time will tell. somewhere, Mothra is pleased.
