I was a big fan of Ultraman when I was a kid. In the early ‘90s I discovered there was a new “Ultraman” show, but unfortunately I was more interested in acquiring episodes of the old show on VHS than I was episodes of the new one. Somewhat later I discovered that there have been many, many “Ultraman” series over the years, rivaling Doctor Who in its longevity. A brief search of the internet yields the following results (but I’ve probably missed a few).
Ultra Q
Ultraman 1966-67
UltraSeven 1967-68
Return of…(Jack) 1971-72
Ultraman Ace 1972-73
Ultraman Taro 1973-74
Ultraman Leo 1974-75
Ultraman 80 1980-81
Ultraman USA (The Adventure Begins) 1987
Ultraman Great (Towards the Future) 1990-91
Ultraman Powered (The Ultimate Hero) 1993
Ultraman Hero 1995
Ultraman Zearth (parody) 1996-97
Ultraman Tiga 1996-97
Ultraman Dyna 1997-98
Ultraman Gaia 1998-99
Ultraman Nice 1999-00
Ultraman Neos 2000-2001
Ultraman Cosmos 2001-02
Ultra Q: Dark Fantasy 2004
Ultraman: Next 2004 - p.82
Ultraman Nexus 2004-05 - p.82
Ultraman Max 2005-06 - p.86
Ultraman Mebius 2006-07 - p.91
Ultraman UltraSeven X 2007 - p.99
UltraGalaxy: Mega Monster Battle 2007-2009 - p.100
Ultraman Retsuden 2011-13
Neo Ultra Q 2013
Ultraman Ginga 2013
Ultraman Ginga S 2014
Ultraman X 2015-16
Ultraman Orb 2016
Ultraman Geed 2017
Ultraman R/B 2018
Ultraman Taiga 2019
Ultraman Z 2020
Ultraman Trigger 2021
We’ve been discussing other tokusatsu series in this forum lately, and because those series were produced later than Ultraman, I expected them to be technically better, but I ended up being somewhat disappointed in Super Robot Red Baron and Iron King. I enjoyed them, but I didn’t like them as much as I hoped to. Now I’ve started watching Ultraseven, and it’s everything I hoped it would be.
As the liner noteson the DVD set point out, “the difference in the overall quality in production between Ultraman and Ultraseven was marked, and made the show memorable 45 years later. According to Wikipedia, “Such is his popularity that Ultra Seven (or simply 'Seven') has appeared or at least made cameos in nearly every Ultra Series following his own and has had far more exposure than even the original Ultraman (though the original Ultraman is without a doubt the face of the Ultras).”
My wife and I disagree about the relative merits of Ultraseven in comparison to SRRB/IK. I would like to start the discussion with a look at the opening title sequence and music, then open the floor for rebutal.
The title sequence of Ultraman, as you will recall, looks as if it had been spelled out in a can of paint, slowly stirred, then run backwards. Ultraseven looks more like it had been spelled out in brightly colored confetti, placed atop one of those old electric football games, shaken apart, then run backwards. Whereas the soundtrack of Ultraman is jazzy, that of Ultraseven shows more of a classical influence.
Here is the English translation of the lyrics…
Seven… Seven… Seven… Seven…
Seven! Seven! Seven!
Seven! Seven! Seven!
A distant star was once his home
Ultra Seven! Fighter Seven!
Ultra Seven! Seven! Seven!
Onward to the edge of the galaxy
Use your Ultra-Eye and… STRIKE!
Seven! Seven! Seven!
Seven! Seven! Seven!
Dan Moroboshi is his borrowed name
Ultra Seven! Hero Seven!
Ultra Seven! Seven! Seven!
Defeat the great fire-breathing monster
Use yout Ultra-Beam and STRIKE!
Replies
LAUNDRY DAY: An ogre named Brethren owns a laundry and lives openly among the people. He not only cleans the clothes, he returns them like new. Bretren looks like an elderly Pigmon with grey dreadlocks. This episode is miostly light-hearted and contains several vignettes. In the most touching section, a man brings the outfit his dying wife wishes to be buried in, but two mischievous boys ruin it. "Men in Black" have been keeping a close watch on Brethren. At the end, an official from the United Nations contacts him and asks him to clean up the planet. At this point, I thought he was going to try, fail and die, but apparently he succeeds. This episode grew on me, but I think it's too early in the series for such a "change of pace." The three regular characters did not appear at all.
BUSINESSMAN WHO CAME FROM THE SKY:
Before I get to the episode, first let's take a look at the three main characters. Jin is the nominal leader, often referred to alternately as "Sensei Jin" or "Jin-san." The "Lois Lane" of the trio is Emi, and the "Jimmy Olsen" is Shohei. They have been assigned to interview a supermodel, who is beautiful but very stuck up. When she disappears, they investigate and find that she is being held, frozen, by Alien Valcanus, the titular businessman. He relates the story of how he came to be associated with the supermodel, and shows them a contract she signed. Basically, he preys on homely women and offers them beauty if, after a certain amount of time, they agree to return to Valcanus. He points out that humans eat animals or keep them as pets, and equates the humans to well-treated pets. His people appreciate beauty as well, but their vision of beauty is "negative energy" (and homely women are full of it).
When the three object, he allows for a trade as long as they can find a greater source of negative energy. He supplies them with a device which identifies and collects negative energy. At first, they think they are after Earth beauty. Shohei points the device at Emi, but she has none. Emi points it at him, and he has only a little. They point it at random people until they determine they are really collecting negative energy. In a cafe, they observe a young couple. The man is obviously feeding the woman a line, trying to get her to pay his rent. They point the device at him, and from out of his mouth rises a ball of black smoke. It collects as liquid in the device. He becomes remorseful, but suddenly goes into convulsions and foams at the mouth. they determine that he needs his negative energy to survive, and pour the black liquid down his throat.
They then set up some equipment to trap free-floating negative energy from the air. they acquire the mother load, then take it back to Valcanus. He is quite pleased with the deal, but says the model will not be allowed to keep her beauty because technically she did not live up to her end of the contract. Then all five become friends and stay up all night celebrating. Jin, Emi and Shohei wake up the next morning to find Valcanus and the girl gone. It seems that she would rather live as a beautiful pet on Valcanus than an ugly woman on Earth. I liked the second episode, but this is more what I had in mind.
PANDORA'S CAVE:
When they are not investigating strange phenomena, Jin, Emi and Shohei spend their time in what looks like a bar, but no bartender or other patrons are ever shown. They just spend their time pouring each other drinks and talking. Today's topic of conversation is Kuroki, a man Jin knew in graduate school. The were both in the same field of study, but whereas Jin performed his experiments on animals, Kuroki experimented on Haruka, his girlfriend. Haruka was suffering from some sort of mental trauma, but the drug he gave her caused her to withdraw into herself and she has never recovered.
Meanwhile, Kuroki awakens to find himself in the bottom of a well (no explanation). There is a hole in the ceiling, and a stone lid in the middle of the floor. Unable to escape through the ceiling, he uncovers the hole in the floor from which arises a plume of smoke. He covers the hole and the smoke coalesces into some sort of an evil muck monster representing evil. He is reminded of Pandora, but the thing tells him that that is wrong; what really happened is that ancient people confined all evil, him, in the ground, and that evil is the true state of the world.
Meanwhile, back at the bar, the trio discuss medical ethics and philosophy. The whole episode is highly allegorical. Emi is toying with opening one of two small, ornate boxes thoughout their conversation. suddenly, she decides to put Shohei through a test. She tells both Shohei and Jin to turns their backs, and she is going to put something valuable under a coffee cup. They have stayed up all night talking. Now it is morning an Emi is going home. She tells Shohei not to look under the cup until the next time they are together; if he peeks, she will know. This instruction seems to drive min mad with curiousity, and he asks Jin what he thinks. Jin says that either looking or not looking are examples of human behavior.
Back at the cave, the evil thing has been taunting Kuroki all night long, sometimes taking the form of Haruka, sometimes of Jin. Kuroki points out that the sun will soon rise and the light will destroy the thing of evil, which it does. Just then Emi happens upon the opening on her way home. She shouts down at him, not knowing who he is. From his point of view, she switches form back and forth between herself and Haruka. "Haruka" then tempts him to attempt escape through the lid in the floor. He moves the lid and all evil is released into the world. Back at the bar, Shohei succumbs to temptation and looks beneath the cup, but we aren't shown what's there.
Very thought-provoking.
He covers the hole and the smoke coalesces into some sort of an evil muck monster representing evil.
Well, that's just good casting.
TOWN WITHOUT WORDS:
This is a very interesting, non-linear episode, but I'm going to relate it in chronological order (more or less). Jin's family name is Haibara, and he is a clinical psychologist. One day a client comes to see himn for the first time and explains that he is the son of of the scientist who created Epignoids, which are artificial humans sold to the ultra-rich as servants, lovers, whatever. The Epignoids are low-level telepaths who always know what their owners are thinking. One day, the Epignoids all disappear from their respective homes and converge upon the home of the scientist who made them. They can talk, but rarely ever do. the scientists takes them off the market, and tries to learn more about human behavior by studying his creations. He orders two of them, Mari and Hashio, to fall in love, but they are incpable of doing so. He puts them through a series of tests, but nothing works. One day the scientist mysteriously disappears. Mari and Hashino buy his house, and all of the Epignoids continue to live there. The scientist's son tells Jin that the Epignoids do not age and theoretically capable of living forever, but each is powered by a 50-year battery and their time is almost up.
Emi interviews a old woman who once owned, and fell in love with, one of the Epignoids. She was devastated when one day it simply left. Emi is obviously in on the story, but Shohei is not. As the episode begins, the three are off on their first trip together. They go to the scientist's former home, which is now apparently a bed and breakfast run by the Epignoids. (Not a lot of this is actually explained, you just kinda have to go with it. I like this aspect of the show.) Little by little, Shohei figures out what's going on. Jin asks him what ratio he thinks speech is involved in communication. (At the very beginnig of the episode, we were asked what the numbers 7, 38 and 55 have in common, and to keep those numbers in mind.) Shohei guesses that communication is 100% speech, but Jin says, no, the actual ratio is 7% speech, 38% tone and 55% body language. They try to determine why Meri and Hashio are unable to fall in love, but are ultimately unable to do so.
Another thought-provoking episode. I'm really enjoying this series.
THE EXTREMELY SMELLY ISLAND:
Emi obtains a bottle of the popular but hard-to-find scent Sédécanne, the "perfume of sad love," and brings it to the "bar" (or whatever it is). It has an unusual smell and Jin asks her if it has a story. The rest of the episode is that story. All women are attracted to the smell of musk (we are told by the narrator), but it has a strong smell when first extracted. Also, its value puts the musk deer at risk from poachers. There is a picture of an island on the bottle, and the picture fades to that very island. A young woman named Youki has washed up there. The orge who lives on the island supplies her with food and other provisions, secretly at first, but the ogre smells awful and has a comically large nose. The ogre's name is Seidegan. After a time, Youki flags down a passing ship and is rescued.
Back at home, she takes a shower but finds herself drawn to the smell of the dress she wore on the island in the laundry basket, She takes the dress to a lab to have it analysed. One thing leads to another, and she turns the Seidegan's musk into a popular perfume. Demand exeeds supply, and she charters a boat back to the island. She explains to Seidegan that she needs to collect his "essence," and he secretes a clear, jelly-like substance through his skin which she scoops up and puts in a cooler. Back in Japan, she becomes even more successful, and even tries to buy the island. One day, the news reports that the Japanese Army has discovered a monster that secretes poison living on a deserted island. they move in to kill it, and she moves to save it. she arrives just in time to see them blow it to bits in front of her eyes but is unable to stop them. She runs up and buries her face in Seidegan body.
Weeks later, the perfume is still selling briskly but is now in limited production. One of her employees tells her that she needs to secure more of the essence. She acknowledges that as he leaves and swivels her chair to reveal that she is scraping the musk secreted from the pores of her comically large nose. This episode would have really broke me up when I was five.
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