Ultraman Review
The word classic is all too often tossed about far too freely but if ever a television show deserved the label the original 1966 Ultraman is one such show. Created and produced by special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya – the man behind the original Godzilla and stacks of classic Toho sci-fi and kaiju films – Ultraman brought the kaiju genre from the big screen to the small in a big, big way spawning hosts of imitators around the world and laying down a template that has been adhered to faithfully for subsequent editions of Ultraman right up to the present day. But beyond being a legitimate pop culture icon and likely the most recognizable Japanese screen icon behind Godzilla, Ultraman deserves to be considered a classic for one very simple reason: forty years later it still works just as well as it did when it was made. Forget the kaiju label, forget the geek appeal, forget the niche marketing: Ultraman is simply one of the greatest kid’s adventure shows ever made. For proof just ask my five year old who, despite being very picky about these things, was singing along to the theme song and loudly lamenting his lack of Ultraman toys just three episodes in. No matter how you slice it superheroes and giant monsters are just plain cool and this offers some of the best of both worlds.
For those unfamiliar with the premise, here’s how it works. In a post nuclear, pollution plagued Japan science and technology have reaped unexpected and often catastrophic consequences for humanity. To contain, battle and clean up the chaos Japan has created the Science Patrol, an orange clad, paramilitary squad of scientific warriors, armed with the latest gadgets to protect humanity from the consequences of their own folly. In episode one a Science Patrol jet is sent to investigate the appearance of two mysterious flying orbs. The jet is blown from the sky and Hayata, its pilot, fatally wounded but in the crash he encounters the alien presence within one of the orbs, a beneficent force that heals him and lives symbiotically within his body, granting him the ability to become Ultraman, a powerful masked hero who can change size up to a height of fifty meters to battle the monsters plaguing the land. Not only can Ultraman grow to match his opponents’ size but he can also fly and shoot energy beams from his hands but there is a catch: the alien presence is weakened by our atmosphere so Hayata can be Ultraman only in short bursts, if his energy runs out before the battle is complete Ultraman will be lost. Every episode introduces at least one new monster and there is at least as much emphasis placed on the other members of Science Patrol – who remain blissfully and hilariously oblivious to Ultraman’s true identity – as on Hayata himself. Though the host human for Ultraman has changed from series to series this basic formula has never seen any significant alteration since these very first shows.
Critics of Ultraman and other shows like it may knock it for its predictability but I say those folk must be blind to the quirks and foibles of their own childhood entertainments. Growing up on a steady diet of Gilligan’s Island re-runs was the experience ever dampened by the fact that you knew that no matter what else may happen, whatever the plan may be, the show would end with the castaways still stuck on the island? Not a bit, watching plans inevitably fail was half of the fun: you knew what was coming and the show delivered. Likewise here. Ultraman promises one very basic thing, that every episode will feature a giant metallic superhero battling a man in a rubber monster suit and crushing vast swathes of miniaturized real estate in the process and it never fails to deliver. If you can’t see the beauty inherent in that then there is no hope for you and I wash my hands of the whole affair.
This new release from BCI gets it right everywhere it counts. The show has been restored and remastered and looks as good as it would have on original broadcast. The first twenty of the original thirty nine episodes are included in this set, playing uncut with the original Japanese title sequence. Though the Japanese audio is included, along with English subtitles, playback defaults to the English dub prepared for the show’s US broadcasts and, in a rare turn of events, this is one that I prefer to watch dubbed. Call it nostalgia or whatever else you may like but the voice actors are unusually good the faked accents and slightly off lip synch just add to the goofy charm. Extras are minimal, limited to only the US title sequence, an interview with three of the English dub cast and an encyclopedia of all the kaiju to appear in the show. The included booklet gives a detailed breakdown of the show’s development and early history.
