All four Mothra movies air in HD for the first time Author: James Ballard Source: Japanese Movie Speciality Channel Last year, the Japanese Movie Speciality Channel worked closely with Toho Co., Ltd to restore all twenty-eight Godzilla films. Over a three month period starting from October 2008, the channel broadcast the entire newly-restored series in high definition for the first time. The broadcasts were met with great praise from both genre fans and general audiences alike, with the channel reportedly receiving countless requests for other special effects series to be broadcast in HD. In response to this, the Japanese Movie Speciality Channel will periodically broadcast some of Japan`s greatest special effects film series in HD under the "Tokusatsu Kingdom Special" title. The first to air under this new banner were Toho`s Mothra films. From noon on March 20th, the channel aired all four Mothra films back-to-back for the first time in HD, along with a 10-minute compilation of all four original theatrical trailers, also in HD. All four films will continue to air on the channel from now until mid-April. Released in 1961, the original MOTHRA (Mosura) was the first of Toho`s monster epics to be filmed in both color and widescreen. The character went on to make regular appearances in the studio`s Godzilla films. After bringing their second series of Godzilla movies to an end with 1995`s GODZILLA VS. DESTOROYAH (Gojira tai Desutoroia), the studio resurrected Mothra in a new trilogy of films starting with REBIRTH OF MOTHRA (Mosura) in 1996, followed by REBIRTH OF MOTHRA II (Mosura 2 Kaitei-no Daikessen) in 1997 and REBIRTH OF MOTHRA III (Mosura 3 Kingugidora Raishuu) in 1998.
Earlier coverage of the Japanese Movie Speciality Channel`s HD airings here on SciFi Japan: