Japanese release date: December 11, 1993.
Produced by Toho Pictures. A Toho Co., Ltd. release.
Japanese title: ゴジラvsメカゴジラ (Gojira vs mekagojira / Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla).
Japanese release date: December 11, 1993.
Produced by Toho Pictures. A Toho Co., Ltd. release.
This is a unique case among Toho’s export dubs. Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II was originally dubbed in Hong Kong by the Rik Thomas group circa 1994. Although unavailable in the English-speaking world, this version was exported to Mumbai, India in February, 1995, as noted in the Indian censorship record reproduced below. A later release titled "Jurasic [sic] City," although largely re-dubbed in Hindi, included a few minutes of footage in which the original English dubbing could be heard. In this version, it appears that Masahiro Takashima is dubbed by Jack Murphy while Daijiro Harada is dubbed by Pierre Tremblay. Simon Broad and the ubiquitous Rik Thomas are only heard here in bit parts, but as two of the most prominent voice actors in Hong Kong at the time, it's very likely both had more prominent roles that don't survive in "Jurasic City."
The first—and to date, only—version of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II available in the Anglosphere is what's known as the "repaired version," which was dubbed in Hong Kong by Omni Productions in 1998. The existence of this version was first hinted at by Hong Kong dubbed Craig Allen (screen name "Joe Tofu") in a post at the alt.movies.monster message board on May 16, 1998. The dubbed audio from this version was then released by Columbia TriStar Home Video on VHS in the U.S. in 1999 (and then subsequently issued on DVD and BD in 2004 and 2014, respectively).
The full extent of and reason for the repairs are unknown, but enough of the original dubbing exists in "Jurasic City" that a comparison of the two can be made. It appears that all lead roles have been re-dubbed by different actors. Interestingly, audio recorded for the original dub is reused throughout the repaired version; for example, except for one line re-dubbed by an unidentified actor, all dialogue spoken by the Dr. Asimov character was carried over from the previous dubbed version (as evinced in "Jurasic City"). Between "Jurasic City" and the reused dubbing in the repaired version, its been estimated that around ten minutes of audio from the original dubbing survives; at least a good portion of those ten minutes is composed of non-dialogue vocalizations such as grunts and groans.
In the repaired version, Darren Pleavin dubs Masahiro Takashima, Andrea Kwan dubs Megumi Odaka, Rik Thomas dubs Akira Nakao, and Craig Allen most notably dubs Yusuke Kawazu. Simon Broad is also heard in this version in various bit parts recorded for the earlier version. Incidentally, the monster Rodan is referred to as "Radon" (a mispronunciation of its Japanese name) in dubbed dialogue from both English versions.