Ultraman

Referred to as “Ultra Series”, Ultraman is probably the second most well-known on this list. While I’ve seen people push this more into the “kaiju” grouping along with Godzilla and Gamera and their friends, I think of it as a Japanese superhero series, so I’m listing it here. This series is also in the same universe, which I’m not sure any of the others can claim. Despite some licensing issues, the show has seen a lot of presence outside of the Land of the Rising Sun, and hasn’t mixed US and Japanese footage like the rest of the list, although co-productions with both the US and Australia have been produced. The series is produced by Tsuburaya, and was created by Eiji Tsuburaya, also known for his work on the original Gojira/Godzilla movie.

Defining Characteristics: The “Ultra Crusaders” come from M78 and for one reason or another end up on Earth battling various races of monstrous invaders. Usually, they use their energy to save the life of a host human, saving them from death and allowing that human to transform into the Ultra, but only for a brief times. Various reasons are given for each warrior (usually the atmosphere filters out the suns rays, which they need to survive) and even if they don’t merge with a human they will take a human form in order to interact with the locals. They are silver with red lines going along their bodies and a light on their chest blinks as they get weaker. If it stops blinking, their dead. They are also gigantic in their “Ultra” form although they can shrink to “normal” human size when they need to.

American Translations/Counterparts: While I can’t think of any counterparts, the series itself has been dubbed for the US on a number of occasions right from the first series, Ultraman. (I know someone is going to yell at me and claim Ultra Q, but even if they’re in the same continuity, it’s not a superhero show, more like The X-Files meets Godzilla.) Ultra 7 received a dub by Ted Turner’s company, but even not having seen the original it wasn’t very good. The last translation was 4Kids’ Ultraman Tiga, but it’s not currently up on their site. (However, WMAC Masters finally is! About stinking time, 4Kids!) I believe an alternate company released the Tiga movies on DVD.

Additionally, there have been two foreign co-productions. With Hanna-Barbera, they produced an animated movie pilot that never made it to full-series, and with the South Australian Film Corporation they created Ultraman: Towards The Future, a previous Saturday Night Showcasee. Being the only series on this list not produced by Toei, they did work together to create an American-targeted production, Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero, but it was never released and I’ve never seen it.

Current Status: The franchise took a break during the “showa” and “heisei” eras. (Names after the political period of Japan they were produced in. Godzilla is also separated because they took a break, although they just completed a third “era” dubbed “Millennium”, noting a new timeline.) Wikipedia doesn’t list a current series, but the stories continue either as TV series or as movies, much like Star Trek did.