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
THE SECOND ROBOT ACTIVATION PLAN: "STORAGE's new asset, Special Craft No. 2, Windom, is finally complete. However, a problem with its energy charge prevents it from being launched. Meanwhile the Subterranean Monster Telesdon rampages on the surface. Even worse, Telesdon is enhanced by a mysterious power. Can STORAGE and Ultraman Z overcome this challenge?"
Kaiju: Telesdon, the Subterranean Monster
According to the summary, Windom is "finally" complete, but seeing as funding was approved only last episode I'd say "already." Yuka designed it, but the engineers changed many of its specs, making it less efficient. Yuka goes to commiserate with Chief Inaba and finds him in his shop baking a sweet potato using a bit of Sevenger's discarded vent shielding as "tin foil." This inspires her to wrap one of Neronga's internal organs in the same material which somehow fixes Windom's energy storage problem. The scene in which she brings Windom to "life" uses "Frankenstein" imagery. Yuka and Isaba are referred to as Windom's "parents," which thrills Yuka but embarasses Inaba.
Meanwhile, the guy who was splashed with and posessed by monster goo (or whatever it was) back in the first episode uses Ultra-technology to create a monster "medal" (the kind used in transformation devices and whatnot. Meanwhile, Telesdon is rampaging. Sevenger is able to defeat it, but the guy arrives on the scene and tosses the monster medal into its mouth which gives it enhanced powers. Sevenger is no longer a match for it, but windom arrives on the scen and, with Ultraman Z's help, is able to defeat it.
FIRST JUGGLING: "The Freezing Monster Peguila is attacking the city. STORAGE is unable to combat the intensely cold air spit out by Peguila. Ultraman Z faces the crisis with a new weapon, the "Z Lance Arrow," a legendary weapon brought back from antiquity. What will be the outcome of this fearsome battle?"
Kaiju: Peguila, the Freezing Monster; Zeppandon, the Combined Lord Monster
An artifact from 30,000 years ago is brought back from Alaska. Peguila appears soon afterwards. Peguila defeats Windom by freezing it, with Yopko trapped inside. While Haruki is providing ground support he is accosted by an armored alien, Jugglus Juggler, who steals Haruki's Z riser (transformation device), then disappears. Haruki runs back inside and takes Sevenger without authorization. Meanwhile, Juggler makes a dark copy of the Z Riser, the Dark Z Riser, which he then uses to summon Zeppandon, the Combined Lord Monster. Haruki saves Yoko by turning Sevenger's jets on Windom and thawing it out, but Sevenger is badly damaged by Zeppandon in the process. Haruki sees Juggler not far off, confronts him, and Juggler gives the Z Riser back. Haruki transforms and the artifact flies to the scene and becomes the "Z Lance Arrow," the weapon of the ancient Ultrman. Ultraman Z defeats Zeppandon. Jugglas Juggler is revealed to be... Captain Hebikura!
THE MAN RETURNS!: "The man has returned to Earth! Riku Asakura is the young man who transforms into Ultraman Geed. However, he's not the only one who has come to Earth. The Last Judgmenter Gilvalis, who once tormented Geed, has returned to Earth once again. Don't look away as our two brave heroes face down an unpresedented crisis."
Kaiju: Gilvalis, the Last Judgementer
Riku Asakura and Utlraman Geed have come to the Earth of Ultraman Z's dimension tracking Gilvalis. Remnants of Ultraman Belial were scattered across the universe after Ultrman Geed defeated him. these remnants, known as "Devil Splinters," turn infected monsters into berserkers. Gilvalis is one such monster. To combat the resulting chaos, the Land of Light created the Ultra Medals and Z Risers, but several of these devices were stolen by Celebro, the space parasite. It is Celebro who took possession of the young man, Shinya Kaburagi, back in the first episode to create chaos and experiment with Ultra-technology to duplicate and enhance the power of monsters. Riku's friend/mascot, Pega (remember Pega?) is missing.
"The man has returned to Earth! made me think of this:
https://youtu.be/yjW9UXoKU2s?si=RUzM6zm8uEvHDlmk
What year is that clip? He looks just like I remember him from the late '70s/early '80s. "Nature Boy" Rick Flair was my best friend's favorite wrestler. (At the time, mine was Dick the Bruiser.)
No date is given, but I'm guessing sometime in the mid to late 80's. Never saw the Bruiser wrestle, myself.
When I was a kid, Saturday nights meant Saturday Night Live (10:30-Midnight), The Three Stooges (Midnight-1:00), and Wrestling at the Chase (1:00-200). Before I could stay up that late, for as far back as I can remember, I would watch the rerun of Wrestling at the Chase on Sunday mornings from 10:00-11:00. I stopped watching wrestling when it became popular in the mainstream (circa 1982, when Hulk Hogan appeared as "Thunderlips" in Rocky III).
I didn't start watching wrestling until my college days (circa '81-'85). Being a New Englander, it was mostly WWF until we got cable.
In Memphis, wrestling came on at noon or 1 p.m. every Saturday. I think some of the wrestling fans here have told me before (and I have forgotten) exactly what it was I was watching, in that it was part of some wrestling federation or traveling troupe that predated the current ones, and the Memphis bouts were on some kind of circuit with an internal championship.. There always seemed to be, like, four or five "world champions" floating around at any given time -- some would do shows at the Mid-South Fair or Coliseum -- starring wrestlers who never seemed to wrestle each other, so I figured it was a Marvel/DC thing. I don't know what Memphis was in the pecking order. Charlton? Archie? Harvey?
We had a local hero, Jerry "The King" Lawler, who also happened to be a comics fan and not a bad artist. I liked him because of the comics aspect, of course, and that he'd show up at St. Jude or other sick-kids venues to do sketches and entertain. I found the wrestling itself, and especially the pre-bout macho-posturing acts, a bit silly. (And I generally liked silly, but these grown men were acting like children -- and poorly behaved children at that.) I felt like it was comic books done badly -- that I was watching Jerry Siegel and Paul Reinman's1960s Mighty Crusaders on screen instead of Stan and Jack's Fantastic Four. It was all cheap sets and camp scripts. You could see the chairs were breakaway before they broke away over someone's carefully placed shoulder. It wasn't that it was an act that turned me off; it was that it was a bad act.
So it wasn't for me. And nobody I knew watched wrestling, so it was in a fan bubble I never ran into, as insular as my own comic book hobby. I had no animosity toward wrestling; I just gave it a shrug and changed the channel. There was usually a Tarzan movie on Channel 3.
If I got to the single TV before my older sisters, that is, who would put on Shirley Temple. If that happened, I'd go outside and see what my friends were doing.
Lawler was the guy who put Andy Kaufman in the hospital. I was no fan of wrestling, as stated, but Kaufman's "criticism" of wrestling irrritated me. He delivered it in a bombastic. aggressive, sneering style; endangered the livelihoods of wrestlers; and was trying to ruin the fun of millions of fans. I could hear all the critics of comic books in that sneer. So while I didn't care about wrestling personally, I did care that it was a fun hobby for a lot of people, and this guy was pissing all over it. I know it was a bit, but it was doing real damage to a harmless hobby that was just as valid in its way as football or stamp collecting or ... comic books..
So when he challenged Jerry Lawler to a match, Lawler took him up on it -- and took off the kayfabe gloves. It was over pretty fast, as Lawler showed some serious wrestling moves that weren't at all fake. I think it was a simple shoulder slam and Kaufman never got up. God knows I'm no fan of violence, but I had to think, "good show, Jerry." He didn't do any permanent damage, after all, and Kaufman stopped running his mouth about wrestling.
Sorry, this probably belongs in different thread. But y'all brought up wrestling on TV, and these are my fuzzy, happy memories of that time, which may or may not be true.
Just to clarify - the Lawler-Kaufman stuff was all a "work" from the beginning. Kaufman was a huge wrestling fan, and had initially approached the WWF with his ideas, but Old Vince dismissed the idea as too cartoonish, which was ironic, considering what Young Vince was about to do when he took over the business. Lawler was more receptive, and the rest is history.
Kaufman came in and was as obnoxious as only he could be, and the stage was set.
Lawler was the guy who put Andy Kaufman in the hospital.
All a gimmick. Kaufman wasn't hurt at all, he just was Method as Hell, and insisted on being taken out of the arena in an ambulance and taken to a hospital, where the doctors told him he was fine. Kaufman just asked them to keep quiet about his condition, and played an injury angle afterwards
Lawler took him up on it -- and took off the kayfabe gloves. It was over pretty fast, as Lawler showed some serious wrestling moves that weren't at all fake.
It was all fake. Lawler was one of the all-time greats, and could make it look like he was killing a guy without harming a hair on his head. I have a DVD collection of Lawler's greatest matches, and he disccusses the match with Kaufman at length, which is where I'm getting this info from.
There were a couple of competing promotions in Memphis in those days. I'll post more in the Pro Wrestling thread when I've had time to do a little research.
Sorry for disrupting your thread, Jeff!
-
117
-
118
-
119
-
120
-
121
of 121 Next