When I was a kid my local cable company’s community access channel (later called “cable access” for some reason) would air a bunch of random stuff during the day when no local shows were airing. I don’t have that company anymore for various reasons, but one show that I had wanted to see in full was Spectreman, but all I got was an extended clip of the first episode as far as my memory recalls. Let’s fix that tonight.
While today the environmental movement complains about carbon emissions, the 1970s environmental movement had the easier to see goal of fighting general pollution. Many shows would use this as a theme for stories and full series in the 70s and 1980s. One of them was P Production’s Spectreman. When rejects from the apelike Black Hole Aliens of the Godzilla franchise (nobody there was involved here) decide they like a nice, polluted Earth and plot conquest (Tokyo apparently had a huge pollution problem at the time), Nebula 71 Star decide to follow their neighbors from M78 (the Ultraman people weren’t involved, either) and send a cybernetic hero, disguised as government pollution fighter Gamou Joji, or “George” in the US dub. To transform he holds up his arm and asks his bosses to switch him to hero mode. With his new friends both in and out of disguise, Spectreman fights the evil doctor Goji and his assistant, Rah (Karas in English).
I have to apologize to the sub fans. Usually I try to get a version for you but I couldn’t find it. Instead all I have is a Japanese intro and outro untranslated, which will surround the Richard L. Rosenfeld produced dub, directed by Mel Welles. Welles played the original Seymour in the first movie version of Little Shop Of Horrors, made before its more famous musical version. Welles would add some comedy and change names, but for the most part the Spectreman fandom wiki (because of course there’s one) says not too many other changes were made outside of toning down the violence for American kids. I guess Japan doesn’t have as many parent groups. The first two-episode opener sees hero and villains alike come to Earth and begin fighting over it, with us humans in the way. Apparently the show was popular and many who grew up with the show are nostalgic for it, so they did something right. Enjoy.
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