mark.waltz Years ago, a local New York channel showed episodes of this science fiction super hero vs. monster series made in Japan, leaving my brother and I riveted (and temporarily out of trouble) for weeks. But all of a sudden, it was lifted from the T.V. schedule, and efforts to find it again were in vain. For decades, it was a distant memory embedded in the back of my memory, only resurfacing when I would happen to catch a "Godzilla" movie or one of the many science fiction monster movies made around the same time as this T.V. series. That is, until now. Researching 1950's and 60's science fiction and horror movies, I discovered it was available, fortunately both subtitled and dubbed, and immediately purchased it with great joy. What I found is perhaps not the childhood thrill of my memory but a long-lost cult T.V. series that has many admirers, but in retrospect with today's computer generated effect, looks rather cheap and is often silly, but certainly no better or worse than any of the movies I've come across in my research.Watching this brought memories of how my brother and I reacted to this at the time. We had simple names for each of the creatures, describing how they looked to us with names like "the lettuce monster" and "the lobster monster". Certainly, one monster did look like a giant head of lettuce, complete with legs, while another did indeed look like a giant Maine lobster. Other creatures were based on various forms of lizards or monsters audiences had already seen on screen, and in a few, there were giant insects as well. Ultraman is a Japanese Batman/Superman hero, turned into this super creature thanks to a falling object from outer-space. With the help of the chained crystal around his neck, this Japanese hero could turn from mild-mannered scientist to superhero just by the press of a button, even able to rip off the scaly mane around a monster's neck, leaving bloody open flesh visible to the audience to squirm about.Each of the episodes is pretty much set up the same way. Rumors of tremors or other potential natural disasters lead to the discovery of some other worldly creature. The same local children are usually spotted near the sight where the monster turns up, although the audience doesn't get a glimpse of the creature until almost halfway through the episode. Ultraman appears, a battle ensues (often comic looking), and guess who comes out the winner. In one episode, the battle made it appear that Ultraman and the monster were dancing together. This makes it difficult to watch more than one or two episodes in a row, but lazy viewers might find it more interesting to simply fast-forward to the way the monster is discovered, the first full view it has, and finally, the battle between creature and hero, combo outer-space visitor and mild-mannered human. Either way, it's a lot of fun even if it does seem like every time these producers filmed an episode, the Japanese rubber plant's stock would jump up 20 percent.

dee.reid I'm 24, going on 25. I know that since I can remember, I have always loved Japanese monster movies (kaiju-eiga), and the films in that genre that featured Godzilla and Gamera. I know that for much of my life, I've always had a fascination with Japan in general. As far as Japanese superheroes are concerned, Ultraman was my second favorite (behind The Guyver, created by Manga artist Yoshiki Takaya)."Ultraman," which debuted on television in 1966 in Japan, was one of those shows that I loved when I was a kid, but for some reason I could never watch it because it was hardly ever on, but I knew what it was about because I collected the action figures. Luckily, TV-on-DVD has worked wonders for TV shows long forgotten in the annals of showbiz history, which is how I came across "Ultraman" in all its original Japanese-language/bad-English-dubbed glory four years ago."Ultraman" features the members of Earth's (mainly Japan's) Science Patrol, who go around investigating all sorts of bizarre scientific phenomena. One of its members, Shin Hayata (Susumu Korobe), has a lethal close encounter of the third kind with an alien being that costs him his life, but said being resurrects him and gives him its powers, thus becoming the gigantic alien superhero Ultraman. Hayata is pretty adept at keeping his super-heroics a secret from his team members, since he conveniently disappears whenever Ultraman shows up to defeat some giant monster or giant monsters (one of whom, I understand, was actually a modified Godzilla costume). (Shame that his members never pick up on Hayata's dual life, but hey, it's a kid's show, after all.)This is a great show, not just for those who love Japanese monster movies but those who love fantasy, science fiction, and comic books. In fact, Japan is notorious for putting sci-fi/fantasy spins on a lot of their Manga and Anime' material, so the most rabid sci-fi and fantasy fans are most likely to be pleased by "Ultraman." I know it's cheesy, the English-language dubbing is hilariously awful, and the special effects pale in comparison to today's overblown CGI effects-laden spectacles. Like most kaiju-eiga spectacles from that time, however, if you can put CGI out of your mind for 30 minutes, the fight scenes will simply take your breath away because of their "realism" and awesome displays of unparalleled monster-mashing destruction.I have no idea why this show only lasted one season in Japan, yet during its time it still somehow managed to spark a massive pop culture phenomenon in the country that would later spark a world-wide craze for all things related to Ultraman. That craze has lasted all the way up to the time of this writing. I'm glad that I got this show on DVD four years ago. It's been a while since I had the opportunity to watch it, but guarantee that just writing about "Ultraman" right now is making me eager to break out the DVD set right now.I hope that us greedy Americans don't get the idea to do an American update.10/10

Chung Mo The first giant robot Japanese Sci-Fi TV show has something that all the others (Ultraman sequels included) never achieved. It's set in a world of bizarre logic and weird film making that is hard to describe. Unlike American television shows, Ultraman seemed to be played for laughs, very strange laughs, but laughs none the less. Don't expect the self-conscious humor of Batman but a world where people say and do odd things, the plot lines take goofy turns and characters will suddenly turn to the camera and talk to you as if nothing strange is happening at all. In one episode, the main characters (members of the "Science Patrol" in the Amrican translation) are sent out to find nuclear bombs that fell off a wayward space mission (!) and sank to the bottom of the sea. Unfortunately a sea creature found one of the bombs first and mutates into a giant monster (resembling the Creature from the Black Lagoon) that sinks boats and attacks ocean resorts. All the time a nuclear bomb is stuck on the monster's shoulder. The Science Patrol has the brilliant idea to sooth the enraged beast with music so they get the Japanese Coast Guard to play classical music from a destroyer! This has the opposite effect as the monster rips up and hurls trees around. One member of the Science Patrol make the incredible observation, "The monster doesn't like music, turn it off!". The show stops as the main characters try to figure out why their plan didn't work since "all wild beasts are soothed by music"! It's decided that radiation is the cause of the monster's inability to appreciate fine music!If you are looking for "rational" entertainment, run far as you can from Ultraman. For the rest of us who enjoy goofy fun, you can't get better then this. The new DVD set has the original Japanese track which has increased my admiration for this show.

Brian Washington This was one of my favorite shows that from when I was a kid. Being a fan of the "kaiju eiga" genre, I really loved the fact that they had a super hero fighting all sorts of giant monsters. The only thing that I didn't like about the show was the fact that Ultra Man never talked to any of the other cast members. Too bad this show isn't on television anymore to thrill a new generation of viewers.