Ultraman – Series One, Volume Two
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B- Episodes: B
The last
19 episodes of the original (and only) Ultraman
has arrived and they are as strong as the first half of the series and as
remembered. To recap, the story follows
The Science Patrol, an important Japanese institution on the frontline of
discovering the latest breakthroughs and threats to the country. One day, when a mysterious space ship is
traveling the land. The particularly
alert and ambitious Hayata tails the ship, which leads to an accident that
kills him. However, the ship from Nebula
M-78 contains a superior alien force who accepts full responsibility for the
accident to the extent that he sacrifices his life to Hayata so he can
live. Furthermore, when the threat
becomes too deadly and dangerous he will be able to turn himself into this
noble alien and become known as the powerful, skillful, kinetic fighter
Ultraman.
He does
this by pressing a giant space capsule (looking like a large fountain pen, sort
of) to transform and his ability to use or not use it adds to some scenes of
suspense. When full size, the only catch
is that Ultraman gets his power from the sun (like Superman) but runs out of
strength quickly in earth’s atmosphere, so an alarm goes off in his chest (like
Iron Man) and he needs to break free and reenergize to defeat any alien or
prehistoric threat he takes on. The show
has one of Godzilla’s producers to the point the original Godzilla costume (not
so cleverly disguised with a gill of some sort) even takes on the hero in an
episode. The result was the first
Japanese export to be a big international hit and a series that became the
foundation for Japanese action TV and Animé as we know it. Often imitated and even revived, it has never
been topped, though the remarkable Shaw Brothers Super Inframan (reviewed elsewhere on this site) was the ultimate
response to the show and giant monster mania a few years after the wild Destroy All Monsters.
BCI
Eclipse has issued these remaining shows on three more DVDs in convenient
slender cases and like Kolchak: The
Night Stalker, this is a series that was far from out of steam when it
ended its classic run and it was a bigger hit in its time.
The 1.33
X 1 image is once again a mixed bag of good color, classic giant rubber suits,
interesting color and prints that lack some detail variously throughout. I had still hoped for a bit more detail than
we got here, but these are still very watchable and these should do fine until
HD versions arrive. The Dolby Digital
2.0 Mono comes for the first time here with the original Japanese audio and the
classic, beloved original English dub with the same voice cast that dubbed the
original (and only) animated Speed Racer. The combination is fine for its age, but BCI
Eclipse is doing HD-DVD and this series should be one of its top
candidates. Also be sure to catch the
optional English subtitles, since they are different from the English dub and
very, very interesting alternatives to the dialogue and note that there is no
defect in your discs when Japanese is suddenly subtitled as you watch.
That is
extra footage never dubbed by the original English voice actors, but shows you
the efforts BCI put into making this a nice set. Extras include a nice full color, eight page illustrated
booklet with excellent essay and episode guide for this set, stills section
explaining all the monsters dubbed Kajiu (monster) Encyclopedia and two
collectible cards featuring Ultraman's foes.
That repeats extras from the last set, but is less than that set. You can read more about the first set and Super Inframan at the following links:
ULTRAMAN
SET ONE
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4131/Ultraman+–+Series+One,+Volume+One
SUPER
INFRAMAN
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1799/Super+Inframan+(Region+3/NTSC)
- Nicholas Sheffo
