Post by Spark Doll King on Oct 10, 2023 20:29:10 GMT
So I've mentioned the series a bit on this site, and I felt like getting into why I like it.
So first off, the how. Well I've always had a thing for monster movies. My love for dinosaurs and aliens is well known but I'll get into how I became a Godzilla fan. The first step is so far back it's a memory of a memory. I watched the original King Kong vs. Godzilla on my Nan's TV somehow. While that would lay the seed, it would be a little later when I was fully hocked. Manga Entertainments release of Godzilla vs Mothra was the first Godzilla movie I would ever own. The film is not viewed as one of the greats by the majority, but to kid me thought it was spectacular and naturally I wanted more.
A few years later the majority of the later Showa era Godzilla movies would be released here in the UK. For those who don't know, the Showa era is the name given to the first run of Godzilla movies from 1954 - 1975. Now the later Showa era was a far cry from what had come before. Godzilla was less villainous, there was a heavier emphasis on sci-fi elements like aliens and things could get a bit weird. My first two were Invasion of the Astro Monster and Destroy All Monsters, from there I would collect all but two from that period but I was enthralled. Even Godzilla vs. Megalon was a joy to watch. I would continue to collect the later movies to this day, but young me was fed a steady diet of vintage Godzilla movies and their impact never faded.
Then came the big hit of the 90's, Mighty Morphing Power Rangers!
For use 90s kids, this show was huge. Power Rangers as a western franchise is created by intercutting American footage with Japanese footage from their ongoing series Super Sentai. While I've left power rangers behind, with my love of giant monsters already in full swing, naturally a series in which monsters are turned into giants and fight the heroes’ giant robot is going to get my attention. I had all the toys and would continue to watch the series from right up until Time Force. There were also plenty of similar series at that time as well such as Masked Rider and Beetle Borgs though none ever stood the test of time.
Now I would also hunt down other giant monster movies, as well as Dinosaur ones, but I feel you’re getting the point by now. Young me was absorbing a lot of content about actor fighting each other in monster suits, loved it and would always want more.
Now to swing away from that we come to my early connections to Ultraman. Firstly I had never seen any of the series in my childhood. The closest I ever got Jet Jaguar in Godzilla vs. Megalon, who was based on Ultraman. When I first learned about Ultraman is hard to say, the character had a very low presence here in the west for a long time, so I think it was probably a slow absorption of scraps of info and seeing the odd image while looking for Godzilla content. I was never overly interested as by the 2000s Ultraman still no official releases or presence in the west. Why would I bother looking up something I could never watch? I was also a bit snobbish at the time, not overly interested in something that was like an older power rangers.
Then I caught some clips on YouTube... and they were brilliant. This was probably coming up to the late 00s or even the early 10s by this point. What I saw was a show that captured the kaiju battles of my youth. True they didn't quite have the budget a big screen production but it was still good. The monsters suits looked great, the fights were dynamic and filmed in a way that captured that kaiju movie style. I really wanted to watch the show after that but there was a problem. Not one was available on DVD. There were rips and even fan subs online but they were of very uneven quality. Now I'm by this point I was kind of tired of fan subs of anime. I was sick and tired of reading subs that were at best half competent, or at worst almost unintelligible. You spent more time making up the story yourself then actually understanding what the f*cks going on. Then there was the question of length. Ultraman has been around for a long time and I wanted to watch it from the start, but I couldn't and there was just so much of it that I was put off even further. I would later learn that most Ultra shows are pretty accessible but I had developed a feeling that such long running franchises should be watched from the start, so as to better appreciate how they develop over time.
Then came a minor miracle. A company called Mill Creek released the entire first series of Ultraman, fully subbed on DVD. Naturally I snapped it up but for some reason put off watching it for a while, maybe a year. I don't know why. Maybe I didn't want to be disappointed. Thankfully I eventually did and had a great time with the show, which I'll get into later. Sadly though, aside from releasing Ultraseven, Mill Creek didn't release any more content and I was so put off by that I didn't even get the Ultraseven series at the time.
Now we come to the late 10s, when Coved wasn't even a thing. At this time I confess I had hit a bit of a slump, because I had been disheartened with almost every franchise I had spend the better part of 30 years loving. Doctor Who had pushed me away (nuwho that is), Aliens and Predator were long pasted their prime, Guyver had gone on hiatus and didn't seem to be returning, while Dragon Ball had finally burnt me out. Godzilla... I didn't hate it but I was likewise burnt out and owned pretty much ever film at the time, plus books and comics. The sole series left by this point Jurassic Park and Prehistoric Life in general, which would lead to me collecting fossil. I was starved for a franchise to sink my teeth into. I did also have classic who but I knew that had a limit. Big Finish still held some hope for me at the time, though that would fade also. I had turned to the mecha/giant robot genre of anime for a while but it just never quite scratched the itch I had.
And that’s when I got hit with a double revelation. 1) Ultraman's production company has its own youtube channel and 2) Mill Creek was releasing a pretty large amount of the Ultraman series. The barriers that had kept me from enjoying the series had finally been knocked down and so with nothing to lose I decided to give Ultraman another try.
So now come to the question, what I like about Ultraman.
Firstly the look of the series. Ultraman was the brain child of Eiji Tsuburaya, the man behind all the special effects for Toho’s giant monster movies of the 50s & 60s. The man wanted to bring that magic to the small screen, and with Ultra Q, Ultraman and then Ultraseven (his final series before he passed away), he achieved this desire. While not quite on par with Showa Godzilla’s best movies, the original Ultraman series easily rivals most of the films and in some respects surpassed them. The series looks absolutely amazing. Later Showa Ultraman series sadly had lower budgets that affected their quality and while future series has never quite risen to the heights of matching contemporarily film thanks to budget, Ultraman’s quality very high.
Then we have the stories. Ultraman is a “Monster of the Week” style, akin to something like Power Rangers, but is more of a cross between a kaiju movie, a super hero comic, the twilight zone and thunder birds. The main caste of each series are a team dedicated to investigating stage phenomenon and fighting back against the colossal monsters & aliens that threat earth with sci-fi weapons and vehicles. This was the Science Patrol in the original series but each season has it’s own team. One member of the team will, at the start of the series, be bonded to the titular Ultraman of that series.
The original Ultraman is a giant, silver & red alien from the Land of Light in Nebula M78. Acting as an intergalactic peace keeper, he came to earth chasing a space monster. During the pursuit he accidently kills the main character Shin Hayata and as penance offers to share his life with him. From then on Hayata is able to transform into Ultraman. From then on Ultraman aids the Science Patrol when their battles go poorly.
In terms of powers Ultraman is incredible strong, can fly, fire energy blast from his hands called, the “Spacium Beam”, throw a cutting disk of energy called the “Ultra Cutter” and like Classic Superman, seems to have wide range of other abilities which he uses to save the day. Unlike Superman though, being on earth offers Ultraman no benefits. Instead the planet’s atmosphere weakens the giant, meaning Hayata can only become him for 3 minutes. As his power wanes the light on Ultraman’s chest will begin to blink red. This an aspect that truly won me over to the idea of Ultraman as a character, unlike Superman who was raise on Earth, Ultraman is a truly alien being from another world yet was won over by humanity and became our protector.
As for enemies, many of the franchises most popular monster go their start here. We have Red King (A powerful thuggish monster who bullied and killed other monsters), Gomora (a dinosaur like kaiju who was the first to beat Ultraman in their first battle) and Alien Baltan (the first alien invader of the series and who’s race would hold a grudge against the Ultra’s for the near extinction of their race). The most deadly of all was the Alien Dinosaur, Zetton, a weapon built specifically to kill Ultraman.
I have alluded to the fact that there is in fact more than one Ultraman, and this is the case. Ultraman takes the opposite wrought to Doctor Who, in that each Ultraman is very much their own character. While they may have similar powers to the original, each Ultra from then on has had his own set of abilities to make him distinct. This aspect also applies to their shows, as each Ultraman series has it’s own flavour. True the earlier ones had more similarities but even then each has it’s own identity. Some are darker, some are more light hearted, though in almost all cases I’d argue Ultraman as a franchise is roughly in the same category as Doctor Who, despite them being very different types of stories. It’s a franchise for everyone.
What I think I love most about the franchise though it just imaginative and fun it is, even after all these years. It remains true to the spirit of the original but has been allowed to grown and evolve in many ways over the years. It’s not just a show about guys in monster suits fighting, Ultraman is also a symbol of hope and how we can be better. It can take you on amazing adventures and bizarre tales. It’s just everything most shows in the west just aren’t and in some cases never were, it’s kind of a blend of all the things I love about fiction rolled into one.
For anyone who might be interested in giving it a try, as I have said Tsuburaya has their own youtube channel and is uploading their series for free. I recommend watching Ultraman Z, the currently airing Ultraman Blazar or the Classic 1970 Ultraseven which is being uploaded weekly. Of if you want something more cinematic, you could hunt down the Shin Ultraman movie.
Hope you’ve enjoyed reading.
So first off, the how. Well I've always had a thing for monster movies. My love for dinosaurs and aliens is well known but I'll get into how I became a Godzilla fan. The first step is so far back it's a memory of a memory. I watched the original King Kong vs. Godzilla on my Nan's TV somehow. While that would lay the seed, it would be a little later when I was fully hocked. Manga Entertainments release of Godzilla vs Mothra was the first Godzilla movie I would ever own. The film is not viewed as one of the greats by the majority, but to kid me thought it was spectacular and naturally I wanted more.
A few years later the majority of the later Showa era Godzilla movies would be released here in the UK. For those who don't know, the Showa era is the name given to the first run of Godzilla movies from 1954 - 1975. Now the later Showa era was a far cry from what had come before. Godzilla was less villainous, there was a heavier emphasis on sci-fi elements like aliens and things could get a bit weird. My first two were Invasion of the Astro Monster and Destroy All Monsters, from there I would collect all but two from that period but I was enthralled. Even Godzilla vs. Megalon was a joy to watch. I would continue to collect the later movies to this day, but young me was fed a steady diet of vintage Godzilla movies and their impact never faded.
Then came the big hit of the 90's, Mighty Morphing Power Rangers!
For use 90s kids, this show was huge. Power Rangers as a western franchise is created by intercutting American footage with Japanese footage from their ongoing series Super Sentai. While I've left power rangers behind, with my love of giant monsters already in full swing, naturally a series in which monsters are turned into giants and fight the heroes’ giant robot is going to get my attention. I had all the toys and would continue to watch the series from right up until Time Force. There were also plenty of similar series at that time as well such as Masked Rider and Beetle Borgs though none ever stood the test of time.
Now I would also hunt down other giant monster movies, as well as Dinosaur ones, but I feel you’re getting the point by now. Young me was absorbing a lot of content about actor fighting each other in monster suits, loved it and would always want more.
Now to swing away from that we come to my early connections to Ultraman. Firstly I had never seen any of the series in my childhood. The closest I ever got Jet Jaguar in Godzilla vs. Megalon, who was based on Ultraman. When I first learned about Ultraman is hard to say, the character had a very low presence here in the west for a long time, so I think it was probably a slow absorption of scraps of info and seeing the odd image while looking for Godzilla content. I was never overly interested as by the 2000s Ultraman still no official releases or presence in the west. Why would I bother looking up something I could never watch? I was also a bit snobbish at the time, not overly interested in something that was like an older power rangers.
Then I caught some clips on YouTube... and they were brilliant. This was probably coming up to the late 00s or even the early 10s by this point. What I saw was a show that captured the kaiju battles of my youth. True they didn't quite have the budget a big screen production but it was still good. The monsters suits looked great, the fights were dynamic and filmed in a way that captured that kaiju movie style. I really wanted to watch the show after that but there was a problem. Not one was available on DVD. There were rips and even fan subs online but they were of very uneven quality. Now I'm by this point I was kind of tired of fan subs of anime. I was sick and tired of reading subs that were at best half competent, or at worst almost unintelligible. You spent more time making up the story yourself then actually understanding what the f*cks going on. Then there was the question of length. Ultraman has been around for a long time and I wanted to watch it from the start, but I couldn't and there was just so much of it that I was put off even further. I would later learn that most Ultra shows are pretty accessible but I had developed a feeling that such long running franchises should be watched from the start, so as to better appreciate how they develop over time.
Then came a minor miracle. A company called Mill Creek released the entire first series of Ultraman, fully subbed on DVD. Naturally I snapped it up but for some reason put off watching it for a while, maybe a year. I don't know why. Maybe I didn't want to be disappointed. Thankfully I eventually did and had a great time with the show, which I'll get into later. Sadly though, aside from releasing Ultraseven, Mill Creek didn't release any more content and I was so put off by that I didn't even get the Ultraseven series at the time.
Now we come to the late 10s, when Coved wasn't even a thing. At this time I confess I had hit a bit of a slump, because I had been disheartened with almost every franchise I had spend the better part of 30 years loving. Doctor Who had pushed me away (nuwho that is), Aliens and Predator were long pasted their prime, Guyver had gone on hiatus and didn't seem to be returning, while Dragon Ball had finally burnt me out. Godzilla... I didn't hate it but I was likewise burnt out and owned pretty much ever film at the time, plus books and comics. The sole series left by this point Jurassic Park and Prehistoric Life in general, which would lead to me collecting fossil. I was starved for a franchise to sink my teeth into. I did also have classic who but I knew that had a limit. Big Finish still held some hope for me at the time, though that would fade also. I had turned to the mecha/giant robot genre of anime for a while but it just never quite scratched the itch I had.
And that’s when I got hit with a double revelation. 1) Ultraman's production company has its own youtube channel and 2) Mill Creek was releasing a pretty large amount of the Ultraman series. The barriers that had kept me from enjoying the series had finally been knocked down and so with nothing to lose I decided to give Ultraman another try.
So now come to the question, what I like about Ultraman.
Firstly the look of the series. Ultraman was the brain child of Eiji Tsuburaya, the man behind all the special effects for Toho’s giant monster movies of the 50s & 60s. The man wanted to bring that magic to the small screen, and with Ultra Q, Ultraman and then Ultraseven (his final series before he passed away), he achieved this desire. While not quite on par with Showa Godzilla’s best movies, the original Ultraman series easily rivals most of the films and in some respects surpassed them. The series looks absolutely amazing. Later Showa Ultraman series sadly had lower budgets that affected their quality and while future series has never quite risen to the heights of matching contemporarily film thanks to budget, Ultraman’s quality very high.
Then we have the stories. Ultraman is a “Monster of the Week” style, akin to something like Power Rangers, but is more of a cross between a kaiju movie, a super hero comic, the twilight zone and thunder birds. The main caste of each series are a team dedicated to investigating stage phenomenon and fighting back against the colossal monsters & aliens that threat earth with sci-fi weapons and vehicles. This was the Science Patrol in the original series but each season has it’s own team. One member of the team will, at the start of the series, be bonded to the titular Ultraman of that series.
The original Ultraman is a giant, silver & red alien from the Land of Light in Nebula M78. Acting as an intergalactic peace keeper, he came to earth chasing a space monster. During the pursuit he accidently kills the main character Shin Hayata and as penance offers to share his life with him. From then on Hayata is able to transform into Ultraman. From then on Ultraman aids the Science Patrol when their battles go poorly.
In terms of powers Ultraman is incredible strong, can fly, fire energy blast from his hands called, the “Spacium Beam”, throw a cutting disk of energy called the “Ultra Cutter” and like Classic Superman, seems to have wide range of other abilities which he uses to save the day. Unlike Superman though, being on earth offers Ultraman no benefits. Instead the planet’s atmosphere weakens the giant, meaning Hayata can only become him for 3 minutes. As his power wanes the light on Ultraman’s chest will begin to blink red. This an aspect that truly won me over to the idea of Ultraman as a character, unlike Superman who was raise on Earth, Ultraman is a truly alien being from another world yet was won over by humanity and became our protector.
As for enemies, many of the franchises most popular monster go their start here. We have Red King (A powerful thuggish monster who bullied and killed other monsters), Gomora (a dinosaur like kaiju who was the first to beat Ultraman in their first battle) and Alien Baltan (the first alien invader of the series and who’s race would hold a grudge against the Ultra’s for the near extinction of their race). The most deadly of all was the Alien Dinosaur, Zetton, a weapon built specifically to kill Ultraman.
I have alluded to the fact that there is in fact more than one Ultraman, and this is the case. Ultraman takes the opposite wrought to Doctor Who, in that each Ultraman is very much their own character. While they may have similar powers to the original, each Ultra from then on has had his own set of abilities to make him distinct. This aspect also applies to their shows, as each Ultraman series has it’s own flavour. True the earlier ones had more similarities but even then each has it’s own identity. Some are darker, some are more light hearted, though in almost all cases I’d argue Ultraman as a franchise is roughly in the same category as Doctor Who, despite them being very different types of stories. It’s a franchise for everyone.
What I think I love most about the franchise though it just imaginative and fun it is, even after all these years. It remains true to the spirit of the original but has been allowed to grown and evolve in many ways over the years. It’s not just a show about guys in monster suits fighting, Ultraman is also a symbol of hope and how we can be better. It can take you on amazing adventures and bizarre tales. It’s just everything most shows in the west just aren’t and in some cases never were, it’s kind of a blend of all the things I love about fiction rolled into one.
For anyone who might be interested in giving it a try, as I have said Tsuburaya has their own youtube channel and is uploading their series for free. I recommend watching Ultraman Z, the currently airing Ultraman Blazar or the Classic 1970 Ultraseven which is being uploaded weekly. Of if you want something more cinematic, you could hunt down the Shin Ultraman movie.
Hope you’ve enjoyed reading.