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.
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II is an oddity in the Toho export dub canon: the film was dubbed into English twice for Toho International. The first of these evidently was never released anywhere in the English-speaking world and remains obscure today. It was, however, exported to Mumbai, India in February 1995 (as noted in the Indian censorship record reproduced below), where it was localized for Mumbai audiences. Although primarily re-dubbed in Hindi and re-titled "Jurasic [sic] City," this release retains several 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. Old-timer Rex Ellis (having dubbed with Axis International as far back as the late 1960s) lent his authoritative voice to Leo Meneghetti's Dr. Asimov. 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 the Hindi "Jurasic City."
In 1998, Omni Productions was contracted to re-record most of the English audio for Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II. The reasons for this are unknown, although in a post at the alt.movies.monster message board on May 16, 1998, voice actor Craig Allen (screen name "Joe Tofu") referred to this work as "repairs." The dubbed audio from this version was initially 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). This is, to date, the only English-speaking version of the film to have been released in the Anglosphere.
The full extent of the 1998 repairs are likewise unknown, but enough of the original dubbing exists in "Jurasic City" that a comparison of the two can be made. While it appears that all lead roles were re-dubbed by different actors, audio recorded for the original dub is reused throughout the repaired version; for example, except for a single line performed by an unidentified actor, all of Ellis' dialogue for the Dr. Asimov character was carried over from the earlier 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, but 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 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.