Movies - Ultraman

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	Movies - Ultraman

Ultraman (ウルトラマン - Urutoraman) is a fictional superhero featured in tokusatsu programs.

Ultraman made his debut in the tokusatsu SF/kaiju/superhero TV series, Ultraman, or Ultraman - A Special Effects Fantasy Series (ウルトラマン - 空想特撮シリーズ - Urutoraman - Kûsô Tokusatsu Shirîzu), a follow-up to the TV series Ultra Q
.

The show was produced by Tsuburaya Productions, and was broadcast on Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) from July 17, 1966 to April 9, 1967, with a total of 39 episodes (40, counting the pre-premiere special that aired on July 10, 1966).

Although Ultraman is the first series to feature an Ultra-being, this is actually the second Ultra Series. Ultra Q
was the first.

Series background

Ultraman's creator was Eiji Tsuburaya from Tsuburaya Productions, a pioneer in special effects who was responsible for bringing Godzilla to life in 1954. The show's predecessor was a series called Ultra Q
, a black and white 28-episode series very much like today's The X-Files or The Twilight Zone. When Ultra Q was finished, plans were underway for a series that would be even better.

The project had the following working titles/plots:

Woo (ウー - Û): This story had a corporeal space creature with eyes, who befriended a reporter named Jôji Akita, but the Self Defense Forces, who perceive him as a threat, were after him. This was basically the monster version of the British science fiction series Doctor Who (1963), and Woo's personality was comical.
*NOTE: Tsuburaya Productions has produced a new series, Bioplanet Woo, which will make its TV series debut in Janurary 2006, according to many tokusatsu magazine articles and photos. It is very loosely based on the above concept.

Bemular (ベムラー - Bemurâ), then retitled Scientific Special Search Party: Bemular (科学特捜隊　ベムラー - Kagaku Tokusô Tai - Bemurâ): The main characters are a defense force (with the same Japanese name as the Science Patrol) disguised as an art/photography team. One of the members, little did anyone (even his teammates) know, gained the ability to transform into a giant birdlike humanoid monster called Bemular (this is not the same Bemular
that Ultraman would fight in Episode # 1 of the actual series), who defends Earth from monsters, aliens and other threats. Unlike Woo, Bemular was a tough and righteous fighter (and looked very similar in design to the title monster of the 1967 kaiju film Gappa, the Triphibian Monster
).

Redman (レッドマン - Reddoman): The title hero of this project slightly resembled Ultraman as we know him, but he looked more demonic and had horns. He came to Earth after his planet was destroyed by aliens from Planet X. (Needless to say, Ultra Seven
shared this working title as well.)

Both Bemular and Redman were designed by Toru Narita, who came up with the final design for Ultraman based on his Redman design, now resembling a less-scary Buck Rogers-style alien being (with a bit of the iconic "Roswell Alien" as well). The characteristic "ColorTimer" (the "warning light" on his chest) was added at the eleventh hour.

The premise of the first series begins when Science Patrol (Kagaku Tokusou Tai) member Shin Hayata was flying his plane and a red sphere of light crashes into his Mini-VTOL. The sphere turns out to be the transport (TravelSphere) for a giant red-and-silver being called Ultraman, and feeling remorse for killing the human, he merges his essence with Hayata to revive him. In return, Hayata serves as the human form for this being, and when danger threatens, he raises the Beta Capsule and transforms to Ultraman to save the day.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Ultraman ]

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Movies - Ultraman

Series background

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