Ultraman (Back to the Beginning)

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
Ultraman Decker 2022
Ultraman Blazar 2023
Ultraman Arc 2024
Ultraman Omega 2025
Ultraman Theo 2026

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!

Episode 9: "The Biospherians"

South University is sponsoring a biosphere project using bioengineered plants created by Doctor Leonie Krankstein. An actor filming a promo for the project wanders off and is eaten by one of the plants. Arthur is on the committee to approve funding for the project and he is skeptical.
Arthur, Charlie and Lloyd tour the project and take some of the plants back to UMA HQ, where Charlie discovers that the plants are generating dangerous amounts of oxygen. (On a side note, I'm finding Charlie less annoying as the series progresses. He's still kind of a pest, but at least he's good at sciencing.)
Arthur, Kim and Jack return to explore the project, which is staffed by interns that all look like blonde fitness instructors. You know, any outfit that's staffed exclusively by fit blonde people is probably suspect. Arthur and Kim discover that the plants are alien, but are taken prisoner by Krankstein.
Back at UMA HQ, Charlie, Jean and Lloyd try to listen to the plants. Jack communes with the plant using his pendant. The plant reveals that it intends to reshape the word to suit itself. (On another side note, Jack's colleagues are rapidly approaching the point where they should be progressing from "Jack is an oddball who makes himself scarce whenever Ultraman shows up" to "Jack is at the very least somehow connected to Ultraman". They do seem to have moved past the whole "How the Hell did he get back to Earth from Mars?" question rather quickly.)
Jack tries to rescue Arthur and Kim, while Lloyd sends out Jean and Charlie in Hummers. Krankstein realizes that the plants have been playing her, but she is killed trying to fight them. (Ah, that old Doctor Who stock character, the human dupe who the threat pf the week uses until they no longer need them!) Arthur, Kim and Jack escape after this.
A half robot/half plant monster appears. Arthur has Charlie play music at it. This seems to work, but Robo-Plant quickly catches Charlie's Hummer. Jack changes to Ultraman. Charlie escapes as Ultraman fights Robo-Plant with help from UMA. Ultraman defeats it after he and Robo-Plant flex their fingers at each other. Our heroes return to UMA HQ while contemplating whatever moral lesson it was that we were supposed to have learned from all of this. Lloyd has his feet up on Arthur's desk.

Overall: Another pretty good episode. It may be coincidental, but I seem to be enjoying this series more now that the Gudis arc is over. This one reminded me a bit of the Tom Baker era Doctor Who story "The Seeds of Doom", which also featured intelligent alien plants trying to take over the Earth. Of course, if you've got long-running science fiction franchises that regularly feature threats to Earth, you're bound to cover a lot of the same ground.

Replies

- Jeff of Earth-J > The Baron January 21, 2026 at 7:09am
  
  General Brewer, a Trigger-Happy Hostile Authority Figure cut of the purest cardboard.
  
  Wolfman Jack with a unibrow. Gudis looks like the "God Emperor" of Dune (but with arms).
  
  (Why would the military do that? What do they hope to achieve with that?)
  
  Budgetary concerns...?
The Baron January 22, 2026 at 12:48am
Episode 7: "The Forest Guardian"
1. A new road is threatening a virgin forest near the city. A woman, her young daughter and a cop/forest ranger/I'm not sure what he is find a confused man who seems to have lost a bulldozer, which was careless of him. A monster who looks like an armored dinosaur/elephant hybrid appears, and in the confusion the little girl, Jenny, is lost in the forest.
2. The UMA team investigates. Jack and Jean fly in in a Hummer, but are driven off by the monster. We meet an Inspector Sykes, who is the "blast away mindlessly" antagonist in this episode. Lloyd and Kim investigate on foot.
3. Charlie thinks that the monster is related to a giant kangaroo, but I don't see it, myself.
4. Lloyd and Kim set off some spores, which disintegrate their cameras and weapons, but fortunately not them. The spores also repel the monster. Kim notices this and prepares some "spore bombs". There is a boy in the forest, and Lloyd and Kim pursue him, but lose him. Jack and Jean are also searching on the ground. The monster attacks again, and Kim's spore bombs drive it off. The two teams meet up, amnd continue their search for the little girl.
5. Charlie offers to fly to the Inspector to the site, but flies erratically, so as to make the Inspector airsick. That seems to be a part of Charlie's gimmick now, pretending to side with the Heel of the Week, only to sabotage their efforts.
6. The ground team find find Jenny and the boy, but are cornered by the monster. They work out that the monster is attracted by metal. Jack uses the excuse that his pendant is attracting the monster, so he uses this as an excuse to sneak off to become Ultraman. It occurs to me that Ultraman has stuck around after the critter to presumably came to Earth to fight was defeated. Don't Ultramen usually go home after that Guess he knew that there were still monsters to fight.
7. Ultraman fights the monster, obviously trying to lure it away, rather than hurt it. He seals it in a cave, which we are told is its lair. It goes to sleep rather than burrow its way out.
8. Maybe I missed something, but as far as I can tell, we never seemed to learn who the boy was.
Overall: I enjoyed this episode. I thought that it was pretty good, perhaps my favorite episode so far. I could wish that the antagonist characters were a touch more nuanced, rather than just strawman "screw you UMA freaks, I want to blast that varmint" types. It feels like they're being written that way to complicate life for Arthur and his crew, but for me, it gets old real fast.
- Jeff of Earth-J > The Baron January 22, 2026 at 7:11am
  
  A monster who looks like an armored dinosaur/elephant hybrid appears...
  
  I thought he looked kind of like an aardvark (this one, specifically)...
  
  Charlie thinks that the monster is related to a giant kangaroo...
  
  Aardvark, I'm telling ya.
  
  Kim notices this and prepares some "spore bombs".
  
  For anyone who hasn't seen the episode and may be reading this, she packs giant mushrooms in mud, lets them dry, and when they are thrown they explode on impact.
  
  Heel of the Week
  
  Speaking of whom, U.M.A. loses contact with one team, them another (due to the metal eating spores), and the HotW decides to destroy the entire forest on the assumption that the teams as well as the little girl are dead.
  
  Don't Ultramen usualy go home after that?
  
  Usually they are given a specific reason to stick around, such as the original's life force was needed (at least at first) to maintain Hayata's life.
  
  Ultraman fights the monster, obviously trying to lure it away, rather than hurt it.
  
  Unless I missed something, this monster never did anything particularly threatening. Yes, it came running at the teams a couple of times, but it struck me as a happy puppy.
  
  It goes to sleep rather than burrow its way out.
  
  Or it suffocates to death.
  
  Maybe I missed something, but as far as I can tell, we never seemed to learn who the boy was.
  
  No, I specifically remember asking, "Who is that?" I think there was supposed to have been a small community of such folks.
- The Baron > Jeff of Earth-J January 22, 2026 at 7:41am
  
  I thought he looked kind of like an aardvark (this one, specifically)..
  
  I think that I thought "elephant" because it sounded kind of "elephanty" to me.
The Baron January 23, 2026 at 12:49am
Episode 8: "Bitter Harvest"
1. It is a time of drought. a giant insect brings down a plane that is flying nearby. Farmer Johnson berates his minion, Sandman , for trying to help. Johnson is hiding the fact that he's using illegal pesticides. Sandman is well-meaning but slightly - is "developmentally disabled" still the polite term? He is afraid of being sent back to "the home".
2. UMA investigates. Sandman talks to Jean - the pilot was a friend of his - but Johnson drives him away. Sandman has passed Jean a drawing of a giant bug attacking a plane.
3. Ultraman tells Jack that the land is in trouble. His pals note that he is talking to himself again. Might want to be a bit more subtle about that, Jack.
4. A swarm of bugs force the Hummer carrying Jean, Jack and Lloyd down.the main bug is a giant locust,which is connected to Johnson's farm.Jiohnson fires on Jack and Kim when they approach his farm. So they have those types in Australia, too? Johnson flees, and Jack and Kim get the better of Sandman. Two giant bugs arrive, but Lloyd shoots one down.
5. Arthur steals Charlie's sandwich.
6. Sandman leads the UMA team to the bug's nest. He goes to smash the bug's eggs, which emit some kind of gas.
7. Jack changes to Ultraman, fights the bug and torches its eggs. Arthur and Charlie spray the bug with a pesticide of Charlie's devising.
8. They bring Sandman back to UMA HQ, where they all share cake. The fat guy takes an extra large piece. Ha-ha,yes. very funny. Actually, that reminds me. I should tell you the birthday cake story sometime.
Overall: Another pretty good story. It reminds me of the Pertwee Era Doctor Who story, "The Green Death", with toxic chemicals causing insects to mutate.
- Jeff of Earth-J > The Baron January 23, 2026 at 6:47am
  
  ...is "developmentally disabled" still the polite term?
  
  There is a daily comic panel which uses the term "Pluggers."
The Baron January 24, 2026 at 12:46am
Episode 9: "The Biospherians"
1. South University is sponsoring a biosphere project using bioengineered plants created by Doctor Leonie Krankstein. An actor filming a promo for the project wanders off and is eaten by one of the plants. Arthur is on the committee to approve funding for the project and he is skeptical.
2. Arthur, Charlie and Lloyd tour the project and take some of the plants back to UMA HQ, where Charlie discovers that the plants are generating dangerous amounts of oxygen. (On a side note, I'm finding Charlie less annoying as the series progresses. He's still kind of a pest, but at least he's good at sciencing.)
3. Arthur, Kim and Jack return to explore the project, which is staffed by interns that all look like blonde fitness instructors. You know, any outfit that's staffed exclusively by fit blonde people is probably suspect. Arthur and Kim discover that the plants are alien, but are taken prisoner by Krankstein.
4. Back at UMA HQ, Charlie, Jean and Lloyd try to listen to the plants. Jack communes with the plant using his pendant. The plant reveals that it intends to reshape the word to suit itself. (On another side note, Jack's colleagues are rapidly approaching the point where they should be progressing from "Jack is an oddball who makes himself scarce whenever Ultraman shows up" to "Jack is at the very least somehow connected to Ultraman". They do seem to have moved past the whole "How the Hell did he get back to Earth from Mars?" question rather quickly.)
5. Jack tries to rescue Arthur and Kim, while Lloyd sends out Jean and Charlie in Hummers. Krankstein realizes that the plants have been playing her, but she is killed trying to fight them. (Ah, that old Doctor Who stock character, the human dupe who the threat pf the week uses until they no longer need them!) Arthur, Kim and Jack escape after this.
6. A half robot/half plant monster appears. Arthur has Charlie play music at it. This seems to work, but Robo-Plant quickly catches Charlie's Hummer. Jack changes to Ultraman. Charlie escapes as Ultraman fights Robo-Plant with help from UMA. Ultraman defeats it after he and Robo-Plant flex their fingers at each other. Our heroes return to UMA HQ while contemplating whatever moral lesson it was that we were supposed to have learned from all of this. Lloyd has his feet up on Arthur's desk.
Overall: Another pretty good episode. It may be coincidental, but I seem to be enjoying this series more now that the Gudis arc is over. This one reminded me a bit of the Tom Baker era Doctor Who story "The Seeds of Doom", which also featured intelligent alien plants trying to take over the Earth. Of course, if you've got long-running science fiction franchises that regularly feature threats to Earth, you're bound to cover a lot of the same ground.
- Jeff of Earth-J > The Baron January 24, 2026 at 8:58am
  
  ...interns that all look like blonde fitness instructors.
  
  They looked like something one might expect to see on first season ST:TNG.
  
  A half robot/half plant monster appears.
  
  Don't think I've ever seen a robot plant in all of Ultraman (or anything else, for that matter) before.
  
  This one reminded me a bit of [a] Tom Baker era Doctor Who story
  
  Yeah, me too. But not just this one... many of them.
  
  You do a much better job on summaries than I do.
- The Baron > Jeff of Earth-J January 24, 2026 at 9:06am
  
  You do a much better job on summaries than I do.
  
  Thanks. I enjoy your summaries as well.
The Baron January 25, 2026 at 12:34am
Episode 10: "Tourists from the Stars"
1. A UFO lands on Earth and turns into a food truck, disturbing a young couple. UMA investigates. Some guy named Ike shows up. He is desperate to capture an alien. Jean punches him out, without any apparent consequences. Are we supposed to know this guy? I don't recall seeing him before.
2. Charles harasses some woman who is clearly not interested. (He's back to being my least favorite character again.) She gets him thrown out of the restaurant. He goes to the alien food truck and chats up an alien posing as a woman named Veronica. Charlie is harassed by a drunk. Charlie handles him, but he returns with his brother. They are zapped by beams from the food truck. Charles: "It must have been a short circuits or something." I take back what I said about Charles being a good scientist.
3. Jack and Jean investigate an apartment. Jack communes with an alien who claims to be peaceful.
4. Charles takes Veronica to the zoo, which appals her. Jack and and Jean follow them there. Ike is hiding in the bushes. Charlie's car is destroyed, but he immediately gets a new one that's identical, so why did they bother?
5. Arthur suspends Charlie. Veronica argues with another alien whio is contemptuous of humans. Jack tails Charlie to Veronica's apartment. She tells Charlie that she married to Roogalo,who is the other alien. Ike and his men arrive, and the aliens flee. Arthur wants to get to the aliens before Ike does. Charlie tries to get Veronica to surrender to UMA. Ike attacks, and Veronica flees with Charlie.
6. Roogalo manifests as a monster. Jack turns into Ultraman, and fights Roogalo, who can teleport. Ultraman reasons with Roogalo, who assumes a human form and leaves with Veronica.
Overall: Another OK episode, which reinforces my dislike of Charlie. Ike seems so comically incompetent that he's not a really good antagonist. Another episode in which the "monster" isn't "evil" as such.

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