Ultraman: Series One, Volume 1

Decades before Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, America's elementary school geeks were gripped by Ultraman fever. The sci-fi show brought Godzilla monsters to after-school fun starting in 1972 (it first aired in Japan in 1966). The show is based around the adventures of the Science Patrol, an elite unit that defends the world from giant monsters. Hayata, one of their members, has a collision with an alien from an outer space agency. In order to save his life, the alien bonds with Hayata. In case of emergency, Hayata can transform himself into the silver and red giant alien to fight freaky monsters.

The only down side is that Ultraman can only exist for a few minutes on the earth at a time because of how the sun works on him. Ultraman has a beeping light on his chest to let you know when he's running low on power and needs to wrap up the fight. When I was a 9-year-old, this show was up there with Batman, Speed Racer and Hogan's Heroes.

How has the show aged? Not as badly as I was expecting. The stories are a bit uncomplicated, but not too stupid. The battles between Ultraman and the giant monsters have primo model destruction. While the Godzilla films of this era featured more monster battles in empty fields, Ultraman didn't mind buttkicking in major urban areas, airports or an oil refinery. The producers of the show knew that kids like to see destruction. If we just wanted to see two big creatures battling in an open space, we'd watch pro wrestling.

As an adult watching the show, I do recommend you avoid sober viewing. This box set contains the first 20 episodes of the original series that ran an additional 19 episodes. All the episodes are the uncut Japanese versions so you'll get to see a few minutes of stuff you don't remember. And you'll also be able to recognize a lot of these moments as they are usually preceded by a glitch on the soundtrack.

There are two problems with this set that need to be addressed. Right in the middle of scenes, the English track cuts out and we hear only Japanese. After a lot of complaining and a little searching, it appears this is the casualty in a corporate feud. Peter Fernandez and his crew (the same folks who voiced Speed Racer) created complete English dubs for the shows, but those uncut master tapes are locked away in a Tokyo vault by a company that also claims ownership of the show.

The company that licensed the show (BCI/Brentwood) didn't have the English translations so they retrieved the English soundtrack from the American syndicated versions. This means that about two to three minutes per episode can only be heard in Japanese. So keep the remote nearby in case you have to kick in the English subtitles. Or you can just watch the whole show in Japanese with subtitles. But how many kids wanted to read TV?

A second problem is that, while the colors look amazing, the picture appears soft. According to my research, the show was shot on 16mm, which is why it lacks the crisp definition of a 35mm show. The softness problem helps blur out strings and zippers. it's just a shame that the folks at BC/BrentwoodI didn't want to explain these realities to us in the packaging. It seems that many viewers think the DVDs are defective. This isn't a good business move since the second half of the series comes out on Oct. 10.

The big bonus feature here is an interview with Peter Fernandez and two other folks that did the dubs. Unfortunately, the amateur production was recorded with the camera mics instead of wiring the folks up. But it's cool to finally see the voice of Speed Racer. After a weekend marathon, Ultraman comes off better than the Godzilla movies of that same period. We receive the same amount of battling monsters action in only thirty minutes snd when you're a kid, thirty minutes is just the right amount of time. -- Joe Corey