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Ultraman: The Ultra Saga

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JADFlores	Ultraman: The Ultra Saga	Lead	[-]
Posts: 3215 Mar 31 10 12:07 PM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tags : ultraman, ultra q Thanks to DVD, I've begun rewatching the original Ultraman series from the mid-sixties (although, from the Japanese titles, the name of the show is actually Ultra Q - Ultraman!). It's definitely a nostalgic treat. My first awareness of the character came from these mini-puzzles purchased for me as a child in the late 1960s ... Around 1970 or so, Philippines TV started airing promo spots for the Ultraman series, showing urban devastation with a giant silver-and-red clad hero battling a giant monster. But it wasn't until we moved to the United States in 1971 that I finally got a chance to see the actual show. It aired on a local San Diego station, and for a kid who grew up on Godzilla and Japanese monster movies, the show was a delight. It wasn't until much, much later that I learned of the Ultra saga: numerous series stretching over decades to the present day, depicting various Ultra personages. The only other Ultra shows I saw were 1990's Ultraman - Towards the Future, Ultra 7 (when it was aired on TBS), and the more recent Ultraman Tiga. There have been some decent-budgeted Ultraman movies released in Japan lately, I've read. Interestingly, the whole saga began with a show called Ultra Q. From what I've read, it was somewhat of an X-Files-ish kind of show, depicting a team that investigates strange otherwordly phenomena. I'm not aware that it's available here in the U.S. in any form, but I would certainly be curious to see how the whole magilla began. In the meantime, I'm reveling in some old-fashioned giant hero vs. monsters heroics with the original Ultraman show. Any Ultra fans out there? Shuwatch!
Leeman13		#1	[-]
Posts: 5330 Mar 31 10 12:38 PM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I enjoyed the little bit of Ultraman that I have seen so far. As a child of the 70's, I only had what the local stations decided to show in my area, and around here in the late 70's, that was Spectreman. I am sure it was just a cheesy ripoff of Ultraman, but I loved it, crazy Kung-Fu and all. The villains in that show were laugh-out-loud silly with the rubber masks and all.
Interstate Shogun		#2	[-]
Posts: 3823 Mar 31 10 5:10 PM Golden Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I am a fan of both Ultraman and Spectreman! ------------------ The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. --John Kenneth Galbraith
Middle 12		#3	[-]
Posts: 5179 Mar 31 10 9:27 PM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	In the mid-70's, channel 44 in Chicago used to show Ultraman, Space Giants and Johnny Socko. Of the three, Ultraman was my favorite. Then one day, 44 dropped all three shows and replaced them with Spectreman. I've held a grudge against that show ever since. I bought the DVD sets of the original Ultraman when they came out a few years ago. I was afraid that I might have outgrown the show, but I found that I still enjoyed it. One of the highlights is the episode where the monster-of-the-week turns out to be a barely disguised Godzilla.
Leeman13		#4	[-]
Posts: 5330 Mar 31 10 11:28 PM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Middle 12 wrote: In the mid-70's, channel 44 in Chicago used to show Ultraman, Space Giants and Johnny Socko. Of the three, Ultraman was my favorite. Then one day, 44 dropped all three shows and replaced them with Spectreman. Yeah, that's when and where I started watching Spectreman. Of those other 3, I actually remember Space Giants the most.
Interstate Shogun		#5	[-]
Posts: 3823 Mar 31 10 11:35 PM Golden Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Spectreman was also on Channel 50 in the early 80's, but I remember all 3 of those shows on Channel 44 too. I bought one of the Ultraman sets and it didn't hold up as well for me. For campy entertainment, it's fine but it's not like I could sit down and watch a whole bunch of them at once. ------------------ The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. --John Kenneth Galbraith
Middle 12		#6	[-]
Posts: 5179 Apr 1 10 4:55 PM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	. I assumed Spectreman was on channel 44, but maybe it was on 50. I can't remember for sure. I didn't try to watch Ultraman in large chunks. I think it took me around a year to work my way though all of them.
profh0011		#7	[-]
Posts: 4730 Apr 1 10 5:06 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Modern tv viewers seem to have gotten into the ahbit of watching 2 (OR MORE) episodes a day of anything. You should really never watch more than ONE episode of anything per day... at the most! Watching them one at a time allows each story to really sink in and be appreciated... plus, that way several stories don't all start to merge together in your brain.
Interstate Shogun		#8	[-]
Posts: 3823 Apr 1 10 6:09 PM Golden Age Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	They all merge together anyway after awhile. It's not like we're watching high drama here, just guys in rubber suits beating on each other. ------------------ The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. --John Kenneth Galbraith
JADFlores	The Next and The Past	#9	[-]
Posts: 3215 May 15 10 11:24 AM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Sci Fi Japan has a look at *Ultraman: The Next*, as well as a brief history of the franchise ... http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2010/05/15/ultraman-the-next/
Dormammu		#10	[-]
Posts: 195 May 15 10 11:38 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Middle 12 wrote: One of the highlights is the episode where the monster-of-the-week turns out to be a barely disguised Godzilla. Jiras! Ultraman was my favorite show as a kid and still is 30 plus years later.
JADFlores	Ultra Observations	#11	[-]
Posts: 3215 May 23 10 2:07 AM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	So far, I've watched the first five episodes of Ultra Q - Ultraman, shows I haven't seen since the early '70s. To say it's a hoot to see these again is an understatement. They're campy fun, and although the scripts are pretty juvenile and the effects and rubber suits are painfully low tech by today's standards, the nostalgia factor and sheer outlandishness of it all outweigh the negatives. Some observations: 1. Although the show is set decades in the future (from the '60s, that is), the sensibilities and visuals (as in cars, etc.) definitely anchor it in the '60s. 2. Ultraman is hampered quite a bit by this time limit on his energy. Every single time he has to do battle with this or that monster, that frickin' color timer has to remind him (and the viewer) how short on battery power our hero is! But he still manages to do the job, despite that limitation! 3. Ide is a buffoon, the obvious comic relief of the series. One wonders how he got into the Science Patrol! 4. Fuji wears her Science Patrol uniform, even when she is on vacation (as in the fifth episode, "The Secret of Miroganda"). Interestingly, the fifth episode also features as guest stars, Akihiko Hirata (Dr. Serizawa and other roles in the Godzilla films) and Akiko Wakabayashi (also from kaiju movies and the James Bond entry, *You Only Live Twice). Images from this episode reminded me that the promos they used to announce the Ultraman* series in the Philippines consisted of clips from this show. I'm looking forward to "Gojiras"!!
Dormammu		#12	[-]
Posts: 195 May 23 10 10:22 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	JADFlores wrote: So far, I've watched the first five episodes of Ultra Q - Ultraman, shows I haven't seen since the early '70s. Ultra Q is a separate television series that predated Ultraman. It's more of an Outer Limits or Twilight Zone type of show with a different monster each episode and no Ultraman hero. Unfortunately, it has not had an official release over here.
Phonics Monkey Vol 2		#13	[-]
Posts: 6161 May 23 10 10:37 AM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I loved Ultraman as a kid in the mid-to-late '70s. Johnny Socko was pretty kickass too. Junk Food For Thought- The Consumer Reports of collected editions.Turning OCD into a lifestyle choice. DC Collected Editions Fans Who Want Sewn Bindings and Books That Lay Flat- a watchdog organization dedicated to superior book production. Join us.
JADFlores	Gojirass!	#14	[-]
Posts: 3215 Jun 17 10 1:39 AM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Just watched episodes 9 and 10 ("Operation Uranium" and "The Mysterious Dinosaur Base") of Ultra Q - Ultraman - A Special Effects Fantasy Series (that is the complete title of the show, according to the Japanese titles), an interesting pair of stories featuring back-to-back frilled kaiju with familiar pedigrees. The first is Gabora, an underground monster which appears after a typhoon, but everyone seems to already be familiar with the beast, knowing its name and its habits. I've looked through the list of monsters in the initial Ultra Q series, and Gabora isn't listed among them. So I guess there's an untold tale there. What's interesting is that the Gabora suit is a redress of Baragon (with a different head), also an underground monster, from *Frankenstein Conquers the World*. Ultraman's battle with the kaiju involves ripping the armored "frill" (which can close over its head) from the beast. "The Mysterious Dinosaur Base" has Godzilla moonlighting as the frilled dinosaur, Jirass ... the product of a mad scientist obsessed with dinosaurs (although how he created the thing was never really explained). Yes, Ultraman rips the frill from around Jirass' neck (which is actually graphically disturbing, with the bloody wound in reddish relief for all to see), so for a minute or so you actually have Ultraman facing off against Godzilla (visually speaking)! Interestingly, the battle between the giants begins with some taunting, something I don't recall seeing much in previous episodes. It's as if the producers were consciously pointing out the fact that this was a special confrontation ... the Big G against the red-and-silver superhero from the stars! And the musical lament following Ultraman's dispatching of Jirass was obviously meant to elicit some sort of pathos from the viewer ... but there really wasn't enough of a build-up to it, and Jirass' mad scientist creator wasn't all that sympathetic a character to begin with. Still, with the appearance of the Godzilla suit, this is a memorable episode for the series.
JADFlores	Switcheroos	#15	[-]
Posts: 3215 Jun 22 10 1:27 AM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Episode 12 ("Cry of the Mummy") of Ultra Q - Ultraman - A Special Effects Fantasy Series is notable in that it shows, for the first time, Ultraman returning the person of Hayata back to Earth via a circular energy beam. What exactly happens after Hayata activates the Beta Capsule? Does he integrate into the supergiant from space, as it would appear from viewings of the episodes thus far? Why does Ultraman even need a human host? Has this been explained in any of the subsequent series? By the way, this episode also features a return engagement by Godzilla film veteran Akihiko Hirata, always a welcome face in these kinds of things.
JADFlores	More Ultra Observations	#16	[-]
Posts: 3215 Jun 24 10 2:17 AM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The higher-ups at Science Patrol must be very forgiving, because our hero Hayata has had quite a record of crashing (presumably) very expensive craft, due to his repeated close encounters with all manner of giant beasts. I'm up to episode 15 ("The Terrifying Cosmic Rays") now, a bizarre episode in what's already quite a bizarre series. The culprit behind this week's kaiju happens to be cosmic rays which, when commingled with the sun's rays (at least that's what I gathered from the English subtitles), causes 2-D images to transform into realistic -- and gigantic -- creations. The kaiju in question is named Gabadon, the product of a school kid's imagination: at first, a giant tadpole-looking thing ... until the kid's other schoolmates decide the monster should look more formidable, eventually making it an armored beastie. But the problem is, once becoming real all Gabadon wants to do is sleep ... which flummoxes the defense forces and the Science Patrol when they show up to confront the thing. Ide, usually the buffoon in these stories, actually comes up with the perfect answer to the problem: erase the image of the creature at night when it's reverted to its 2-D form. But Science Patrol leader Captain Muramatsu decries that as a dull solution and would rather risk collateral damage and lives by fighting the creature when it's its gigantic 3-D self! Wha -- ?! The scenario becomes even more bizarre. Because Ultraman has to make an appearance. It's his show, after all. But once he appears to face down Gabadon, the school kids who created the kaiju loudly entreat our hero not to kill the beast. So, instead Ultraman flies off into space with the monster. To close this strange episode, the school kids are assured by (presumably) the voice of Ultraman that all they need do is look up at a certain time of year and they'll see Gabadon in the stars. And the last image is indeed that of Gabadon, outlined by the stars in the night sky. By the way, we finally learn the mission of Science Patrol ... at least according to Capt. Muramatsu, who explains that they're there to fight off space beasts and safeguard the peace on our planet. So there!
JADFlores	Utraman Zero: Super Decisive Battle!	#17	[-]
Posts: 3215 Jun 29 10 12:53 PM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Looks like there's going to be a movie to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Ultraman series ... http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2010/06/28/ultraman-zero-the-movie-super-decisive-battle-belials-galactic-empire/ I haven't really followed the more recent incarnations, so the plot description is a bit daunting to me. But I'm glad the saga is continuing!
JADFlores	Peter Fernandez, R.I.P.	#18	[-]
Posts: 3215 Jul 16 10 9:07 AM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Peter Fernandez, one of the voice actors who dubbed Ultraman (as well as many other Japanese-to-English translations, including Speed Racer and Godzilla films), has passed away ... http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2010/07/15/peter-fernandez-1927-2010/
Leeman13		#19	[-]
Posts: 5330 Jul 16 10 11:40 AM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Just got that 2 disc Ultraman set with the first 20 episodes on it from a friend and watched the first episode. While I remember Spectreman and Space Giants well, I didn't remember this stuff at all. A lot of fun in all. Funny to compare the original Japanese (English subs) with the English dubs. There are, at times, vastly different meanings within. Play MSTie for Lee...........
Middle 12		#20	[-]
Posts: 5179 Jul 16 10 9:03 PM Registered Member Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	JADFlores wrote: Peter Fernandez, one of the voice actors who dubbed Ultraman (as well as many other Japanese-to-English translations, including Speed Racer and Godzilla films), has passed away ... http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2010/07/15/peter-fernandez-1927-2010/ Sad to hear. Peter's voice was a big part of my childhood (and occasionally my adulthood as well).

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Ultraman: The Ultra Saga

Ultraman: The Ultra Saga