The AIP dub is of course better and on par with the Japanese version if not in some ways better thanks to a grindhouse/drive-in/Saturday morning TV nostalgia. I think its a shame that we can't just get a letterboxed print of the Titra dub. I hear there's some weird rights entanglements involving the "Save the Earth" song. I'm thinking about making a reconstruction myself with my digital backup of the Orion VHS and Japanese DVD.

The only way I think it screws up the film compared to the Japanese is that the end doesn't have the male chorus. That made the ending with Godzilla walking down the slopes of Mount Fuji as the sun rises intercut with real, mondo-style footage of pollution more powerful. With the standard version of the song from the beginning of the film it doesn't have the same weird impact.

Did anyone here actually see Smog Monster at the grindhouse or drive-in in the early 70s on the infamous double bill with Frogs? That must have been one eco-horror ridden night to remember with some vivid nightmares to be had afterward.