Ultraman (Back to the Beginning)

[Jeff of Earth-J]

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!

[Jeff of Earth-J]

That's probably for the best.

Thanks for looking that up and saving me the trouble.

[Commander Benson]

I just jumped ahead to episode three, and even though I know better, I'm hoping for a "very special episode" where the monster steps on Hoshino and squashes him into paste.

 

[Commander Benson]

Ultraman Episode 01: "Ultra Operation No. 1" . . . 

Now, we're talking!  I was a huge fan of Ultraman when it ran in 1967.  I had to watch it on our old Westinghouse monochrome television set, once I adjusted the rabbit ears of the UHF adaptor to get channel 61 as static-free as possible.  For the record, in my head canon, none of the subsequent Ultramen series count.  The adventures of Ultraman and the Science Patrol began and ended with those thirty-nine episodes.  So, I'm excited to see the Ultra-conversation finally come around to those.

Some of you might remember, two 2012 entries from my Deck Log covered the show.  In case anyone is interested . . . 

https://captaincomics.ning.com/profiles/blogs/deck-log-entry-141-in...

https://captaincomics.ning.com/profiles/blogs/deck-log-entry-142-co...

 

 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

We must be watching different translations, again, because the one I watched kept it as "Ide".

I meant the English dub, not the English subtitles.

Now, we're talking!  I was a huge fan of Ultraman when it ran in 1967.

I changed the title of this thread to "Ultraman (Back to the Beginning)" specifically to attract your attention. ;)

Some of you might remember, two 2012 entries from my Deck Log covered the show. 

I not only remember, I plugged them myself last month (back on p.145 of this thread) just before Bob started Ultra Q.

[Commander Benson]

Some of you might remember, two 2012 entries from my Deck Log covered the show. 

I not only remember, I plugged them myself last month (back on p.145 of this thread) just before Bob started Ultra Q.

 

So I see, now.  Wow, thanks for the shout-out, my friend.

 

[The Baron]

Episode 02: "Shoot the Invader"

1. "Featuring Alien Baltan"
2. We open at SSSP HQ. Ide has a phone call and a black eye. Ide and Fuji both address us about it. Ide starts to tell us about how he got the shiner.
3. Thirty-eight hours earlier, Ide couldn't sleep because of Arashi's comedy snoring. The Troubalert goes off, and Ide, Arashi and Fuji report to Cap's office. Cap tells them that a UFO was spotted and then disappeared. Since Hayata was on patrol, Cap sent him to the defense center to find out was going on. Hayata reports that the UFO landed near the Science Center in Gotenyama in Tokyo.
4. We get another comedy bit where Cap points  out to Arashi that he reported to the alert with his slippers on. Ide laughs at him, and Arashi steps on his foot.  Comedy gold, it is  not.
5. As Arashi drives to the Science Center, Hoshino pops up in the back seat of his car. Oh, God, this kid's gonna be a Kenny, isn't he? Arriving at the Science Center, Arashi goes in, telling Hoshino to stay in the car. Give the kid credit, he does actually stay in the car.
6. Inside, Arashi sees a security guard frozen in place, and signals to  Hoshino to call HQ. A teleporting alien freezes Arashi, then laughs at him.
7. Hayat arrives with two soldiers. Hoshino fills him in on what's happened. Inside, the alien freezes the soldiers. Hayata fires at him to no effect. After this, Hayata withdraws.
8. At a defense meeting, Cap suggests trying to talk to the aliens, but this idea is scorned. Everyone else wants to use the new Hagetaka missile. In the end, they decide to let Cap try his plan while they get the missile ready.
9. We get another comedy bit where Ide claims to be able to speak an alien language.
10. Hayata and Ide got to the Science Center. Hayata tells Ide to go inside while he stands guard outside. Ide is so exaggeratedly cowardly that it rapidly becomes tedious and you start to wonder how this guy got into the SSSP.
11. The alien toys with Ide, and then uses Arashi's body to communicate with him.  Fortunately, Hayata soon joins him, as Ide has reached Shaggy levels of incoherence and incompetence,. The alien is Baltan and explains that their homeworld was destroyed by a mad scientist's nuclear experiments, and that they are here to conquer Planet M240, a.k.a. Earth. Hayata suggests that they could stay if they agreed to obey Earth law. Baltan scorns this idea, and says that there are 2.03 billion of them in microscopic form in their spaceship. Also, something on Mars prevents them from going there.
12. Baltan releases Arashi and then grows to giant size. He swats Hayata aside, causing him to drop the Beta Capsule. The Hagetaka missile is launched, to little effect. Hayata accidentally knocks the Beta Capsule out of his reach.
13. Back at HQ, Cap speculates that the thing on Mars that could stop Baltan is Spacium. Not sure how he knows that.
14. Hayata jumps off the building, grabbing the Beta Capsule on the way down and transforming into Ultraman. (He was lucky that worked.) Ultraman fights Baltan, who teleports around a lot. Eventually, Ultraman kills Baltan with his Spacium Beam, then blows up  their spaceship.
15. Oh, and the payoff on Ide's black eye is that he fell out of bed afterwards.

Overall: An OK episode. Baltan was a good monster design. My main criticism is that I felt that the comedy stuff was overdone. I know that this show was aimed more at kids than Ultra Q was, but  I just found it all tedious and unfunnny.

[Commander Benson]

Episode 02: "Shoot the Invader"

This episode is what the boys over at TV Tropes call "early-installment weirdness", and is my least favourite episode of Ultraman.  The series was still trying to find its level, and "Shoot the Invader" lapsed too far into juvenile humour, especially on the part of Ito.  Aye, he would always remain the show's comedy relief, but the writers would soon ratchet back on making his actions and responses so infantile.  Ito's cowardice was also an early trope which the show dispensed with, for as you said, Baron, it was annoying in just this episode alone.  And, lending to your other comment, the writers must've figured out that there was no way a devout coward would ever have been accepted into the Science Police.

I will give credit to the writers for attempting to break out of the pattern of "mindless monsters on a rampage" so soon.  (I'd forgotten that "Shoot the Invader" was the second episode aired.)  Baltan and his two-billion fellows deliberately meant ill, in trying to conquer the Earth.  (And, remember, at that time, there were only a little over two and a half billion people in the world.)

But as far as the juvenile humour, fortunately the show will grow up soon.  Ito will always be an irritation (though, frankly, not as much of one as Hoshino or Pigmon was), but not often again as bad as in this episode.

 

[Jeff of Earth-J]

"Featuring Alien Baltan"

Baltan is one of my most memorable aliens from the original series. There was just sometnhing about the way he laughed and the way he moved that stuck in my mind. The way I remember it, I first started watching it in 1970 when I was six years old. Last August Tracy and I went to the Kaiju Go! event in Dallas, and I got a Baltan figure for free. 

Hoshino pops up in the back seat of his car. 

He's rockin' that red fedora and short pants.

And isn't Fuji cute! I don't mind admitting she was probably my first "TV crush."

The alien is Baltan and explains that their homeworld was destroyed by a mad scientist's nuclear experiments, and that they are here to conquer Planet M240, a.k.a. Earth.

Watching these in Japanese with no subtitles (as I am doing), I miss plot points such as this. 

Hayata accidentally knocks the Beta Capsule out of his reach.

"Shimatta!"

When I was a kid, I coveted one of those communications pins with the antenna (and to tell you the truth, I'd buy one today).

EDIT: Actually, they are for sale cheap on Etsy (no antenna, alas).

I also re-watched the first episode of 2013's Neo Ultra Q last night, referred to in some circles as "season two." I was quite impressed by how closely it hewed to the original. There is a new "Trio" (this time they hang out in a cocktail lounge). It is filmed in color, but only barely. the color is so washed that it almost looks b&w. I'm not going to say anything more about it at this time so as not to threadjack the discussion, but the entire series is discussed in full above (starting on p.106).

[The Baron]

Yes, Fuji is easy on the eyes.  I gather that the actress asked to be given more to do than she had been given as Yuriko, so we'll see how that works out.

[Jeff of Earth-J]

Well, so far she has already gotten to pilot a plane. But in Ultra Q she was one of three main players, whereas in Ultraman she's part of an ensemble cast.

Hiroko Sakurai also played Prof. Yukari Yoshinaga in 40 episodes of Ultraman Max.