Pilot's Log

Today I bought the first DVD of the remastered 1960s Japanese sci-fi/horror/superhero TV series ULTRAMAN, which I first encountered around 1978 when I was living in Pittsburgh and watching just about anything that the independent stations showed. Like SPEED RACER, this show is exactly as old as I am...and shares the same English-language dubbing cast, which is probably why I was won over so quickly.

Well, that and the Tsubaraya special effects.

I'm watching this disk in bits & pieces, as this series only had bookended continuity...the only "high" plotline is explained in the very first and very last stories. This means that the majority of the stories are self-contained and can be watched in random order. I'm also watching with the sound off to start; I may go back and rewatch to check out the differences in the soundtracks.

Where to begin...?

Yes, there are embarrassing ways in which this program shows its age--but not too many. Japan was living the future in the early and middle 1960s (and for a good while afterwards); they had good reason to be proud of their technology and to show it off. You can forgive the reel-to-reel magnetic tape and little telescoping antennae everywhere...who knew what was to come? But at the same time you had a dichotomy of both high-future concepts (exploitation of the planets of the Solar System!) versus an all-too-cynical eye on how the real world works (smuggling, pollution, superpower nations with casual regard on the use of atomic weapons, etc.).

There are two kinds of monster on the loose in ULTRAMAN: those spawned by mankind's reckless treatment of the natural world, and those dumped on Earth by space beings who see mankind as a threat and want to beat the human race into submission. It's the job of the Science Patrol--and soon, the big man in silver and red--to fight back and restore peace and order. This formula begat a whole genre unto itself, tokusatsu, which endures still.