The Return of Ultraman

Monday, September 12, 2011

The Return of Ultraman

The Return of Ultraman (帰ってきたウルトラマン Kaettekita Urutoraman?, roughly meaning "Ultraman Has Returned") is a tokusatsu SF/kaiju/superhero TV series, and is the 4th Ultra Series.

Eiji Tsuburaya had originally intended for the Ultra Series to end with the 1967 series Ultraseven (Urutora Sebun, 1967), but Ultraman (Urutoraman, 1966) proved to be too popular a character to keep down. After Eiji Tsubaraya's death in 1970, his son Hajime Tsuburaya (who took over Tsuburaya Productions until his own death in 1973) revived the Ultra Series with Return of Ultraman.

Featured in this show is a new Ultraman named "New Ultraman" (新ウルトラマン Shin Urutoraman?), or just "Kaettekita Ultraman" (帰ってきたウルトラマン?), like the show's title. In 1984, however, he was renamed "Ultraman Jack" (ウルトラマンジャック Urutoraman Jakku?) due to licensing issues, after Tsuburaya and Bandai (which had just bought the Ultraman toy license in Japan) held a contest for children to pick a new name for this Ultraman. Although he is called "Ultraman Jack" for licensing in and out of Japan, he is still sometimes referred to as "New Ultraman"/"Kaettekita Ultraman," by some fans (and also in some official sources). This change was done due to a last minute decision as the original plan for this series was for the original Ultraman to return to Earth to resume the fight against aliens and monsters.

While nearly identical in appearance to the original Ultraman, the red pattern on his silver suit is slightly different, and he can be distinguished by his shorter "pants," fuller "sleeves" and "kneepads," and pinstripes along the red areas.

Also of note is that Ultraman Jack is one of the few Ultra-Crusaders who requires no device (like the "beta capsule") to transform. Hideki Gô, the human host for New Ultraman, simply raises his hands to transform at will when New Ultraman signals him to do so--or, sometimes, against his will in a very desperate situation. Also there are times when Hideki Gô tries to transform only to have the process blocked due to New Ultraman refusing to transform under the circumstances.

For the first time, Ishirō Honda, best known for his work on the Godzilla movies and other classic Toho tokusatsu, worked on the Ultra Series, and directed some of the episodes of this series, including the first episode (titled "All Monsters Attack" (怪獣総進撃 Kaijū Sōshingeki?), which is the same as the Japanese title for the film All Monsters Attack).

Story

This series is a follow up to the original Ultraman and Ultraseven. The first episode begins with a fight between two giant monsters Takkong and Zazahn in Tokyo. Amid the monster destruction, young race-car driver Hideki Go is killed while trying to rescue a little boy and a dog from the falling rubble. His valiant sacrifice is noted by everyone, even his friends and the new defense force MAT (Monster Attack Team), but an unseen being also takes notice. Looking over him is "New Ultraman (Ultraman Jack)," who is so touched by his heroics that he decides to combining his own life-force with Hideki's, thus bringing him back to life (just like the original Ultraman did with Shin Hayata), much to everyone's astonishment. MAT asks him to join the team, which he does, especially since, in this frightening new "Age of Monsters," Earth will need a savior.

In times of crisis, Hideki Go will raise his right arm and, by force of will, transform into Ultraman Jack to fight monsters.

Ultraman Jack is also the first Ultra-Crusader to suffer many types of humiliation, from having his Color Timer ("warning light") torn off to being decapitated.

Pages

Monday, September 12, 2011

The Return of Ultraman

No comments:

Blog List

Blog Archive

Popular Posts