Ultraman: The Complete Series

If you were a kid in the early '70s and you remember being glued to the TV watching Ultraman then you certainly can't go wrong buying this DVD release. If you have children this is the perfect opportunity to show them a series with substance that inspires thought and creativity instead of the nonsense that is aired these days.However, having said that, I am a little disappointed in these last two DVD releases (this one and the 2006 release) for a couple of key reasons:First off, not all of the dubbed English is present. It is not because it doesn't exist anymore; in 1996 a video tape was released to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the show. It was labeled Vol. 1 and contained the first four episodes.When I first watched the DVDs I realized that dialogue spoken in Japanese was definitely aired with an English dub. I compared a couple of scenes with the videotape and those scenes were definitely aired in English.I think what has happened with these DVD releases is that they reflect copyright and distribution battles between companies. This is why it took so long to release the series in the first place. The research was sloppy and hurried. With more time and care invested I think they could have incorporated most of the missing English. It is definitely available since various versions of the series have existed in one form or another throughout the years.The other thing that bothers me is that they used the Japanese opening credits instead of the English version. This is an American release intended to be purchased and viewed by Americans. The show has always been available in Japan but here in the United States children saw English titles.For me personally, the credits and theme songs are just as important as the contents of the show in order to recreate the original experience of having watched these shows as a kid back in the early '70s.Overall, it is wonderful that the series has finally been released in the United States. If you loved this show you will love watching these discs.I just wish that someone would release Ultraman, Space Giants and Johnny Sokko as they were presented on American TV with all English dubbing intact and all opening/closing credits (and themes) intact.If you are fortunate enough to speak and understand Japanese you could have bought imports of the show all along in their native environments but the opening credits and theme songs that we have come to know are different and should have been preserved for an American release.

I grew up in southern California and gobbled up the giant monster movies that routinely aired throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s but Ultraman was not a part of this picture. I remember travelling back to Illinois to visit relatives and coming across some TV serial that had Godzilla and Ghidrah in it and I was beside myself! (I was much later to find that this was from a Japanese import television show called “Zone Fighter”, yet another show that didn’t air in sunny SoCal.) Now that I have kids of my own I have decided to rectify that lack of Ultra knowledge by watching “Ultraman” with my kids and I have to say it’s been fun. These discs/ transfers are not of the greatest quality though (and I’ve recently read other reviews from a two volume issue of this series that reports better mastering). The earlier episodes appeared to be much grainier than the later episodes for some reason. Also, in just about every episode that we selected the English audio there was still a drop of around a minute or two where it reverted back to the Japanese track. Usually this would also automatically prompt the English subtitles to come on but it gave the feature a kooky feel. Subtitles and language tracks were also vastly different from each other at times but I suppose that’s to be expected in the Japanese to English dubbing process. The discs are also kept in paper and plastic sleeves and tucked into a square insert so that you’re constantly bending the sleeves when you take them out and have to shuffle them. If I were to purchase this item again I think I’d try out the two volume option.On the plus side is the series itself. Whereas shows like “The Mighty Morphing Power Rangers” throw everything at the viewer, along with the kitchen sink, “Ultraman” presents itself in a fairly straightforward and even semi-serious fashion. Each episode essentially finds the Science Patrol, a team of quasi-military governmental agents responsible for exploring strange phenomena and keeping Japan safe from terrestrial and extra-terrestrial threats, encountering said threat and attempting to deal with it but being overwhelmed and needing Ultraman to come in and save the day. These threats, always turning into odd and inventive if not bio-organically natural giant monsters, almost only ever gave Ultraman a run for his money due to the limited amount of time he was able to maintain his form (his power supply as it were, his drawing energy from the sun, always ran out quickly). Team member Hayata was the one who transformed into Ultraman after he was killed and then resurrected by the alien. A lot of time is spent with the Science Patrol and, fortunately, a lot of attention is given to the team’s weapon designer Ide who is very emotive, often rash, and klutzy so he’s a lot of fun. Keen-eyed Godzilla fans will be able to notice some of the monster suits from Toho spfx films being refashioned into other monsters!

El producto llegó a tiempo y en buen estado.Indispensable en la colección de todo fan de la serie; cuando la veía por TV en mi niñez, nunca la ví completa, por lo que no podía dejar pasar la oportunidad de tenerla.Ampliamente recomendada.

a very good show

Good image. Sound is ok. But the english translation is so so. Sometimes, even if you watch the english version, you have the japenese version. The englis sub-titles are completly different from the english version.But, anyway, it's a good dvd for those you liked Ultraman when they were young.

bon achat.

El paquete llego a tiempo y en perfecto estado. Una adquisición obligatoria para todos los que disfrutan de los kaijus.