It is no small secret that Tsuburaya Productions of Japan has been trying to break back into the lucrative American television market. Having had a successful run with their original Ultraman series on American television in the 70's and early 80's, Tsuburaya decided once again to launch their hero, this time with a more "Western" flavor, in the United States for the 1990's.
       Starting with "Ultraman: Towards the Future", Tsuburaya decided to take a new direction with Ultraman and make the series more "accessible" to Western fans. The studio would film "Ultraman: Towards the Future" in English, the first Ultraman series ever filmed in a language other than Japanese. The result of the 13 episode Tsuburaya/Australian co-production was positive enough for Tsuburaya to finally green light the first ever "American" Ultraman series: "Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero."
        "Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero" produced by Tsuburaya Productions in association with Major Havoc Productions, Inc. is the tenth entry in the long running Ultraman series. The entire 13 episode series was filmed in the United States and was the second Ultraman series to be filmed entirely in English. The filming took place on Los Angeles sound stages and "on location" sets.   In order to "re-introduce" Ultraman to American audiences, Tsuburaya decided to bring back familiar Ultraman monsters from the original 1966 series and re-work some of the storylines of the original episodes these creatures appeared in. Tsuburaya thought that these changes would appeal to fans who watched the original series on American television and also at the same time, appeal to a new generation of young American fans.
        The storyline-The evil Baltan aliens invade Earth, reviving evil monsters and aliens. The World Wide Investigative Network Response Team or W.I.N.R., is created in order to combat the invasion.   Ultraman, having chased the Baltans to Earth, chooses W.I.N.R. member Kenichi Kai to become his human partner. He gives Kai the new Beta Capsule, a device that will transform him into Ultraman in times of great danger.   What follows is a basic episode guide to the 13 episode series along with some special notes or fun facts in relation to each episode.

THE GOLDEN PURSUER
    The evil Baltan aliens invade Earth. While the WINR team battles the creatures, member Kenichi Kai is summoned into Ultraman's ship. There, Ultraman informs Kai that he has chased the Baltans to Earth. Together they must fight for the good of the Earth and Kai recieves the "Beta Capsule".

THAT NAME IS ULTRAMAN
    The WINR team recieves reports of a giant monster attacking local campsites. The WINR team finds out the creature is Kemular, a large burrowing creature that emits poisonous gas. (Note: The WINR computer says Kemular was last seen in China in 1976, leading one to believe he survived his original encounter with the Japanese Science Patrol's Ultraman!)

FLY TO THE FORBIDDEN MONSTER WORLD
    The WINR team is sent to a remote island where reporters are trapped because of the giant monsters Red King and Chandorah. While hiding in a cave the reporters find the friendly monster Pigmon who would like to leave the island also.(Note: One of the reporters is played by actor Jeffrey Combs of "Re-Animator" fame.)

MESSENGER FROM THE DARKNESS
    Kenichi Kai is sent to investigate strange seismic activity at a nearby mountain range. He is captured by a race of underground dwellars who plan on using their creature Telesdon to enslave the planet.(Note: The city Telesdon attacks must be made out of reinforced steel. Many of the shots depict Telesdon's tail smashing into the buildings with no effect.)

LIGHTNING WAR DEFENSE MISSION
    Uranium trucks are being attacked by the creature Gabora who happens to eat the stuff. The WINR team tries to stop the creature before it attacks a nuclear power plant. (Note: The truck driver at the beginning of the episode is a familiar sci-fi actor. Does "Danger, Will Robinson" ring a bell? If you guessed Bill Mumy, give yourself a pat on the back.)

RETURN FROM THE UNIVERSE
    It is discovered that the astronaut Jamila, horribly transformed into a monster by a space accident, has returned home. He tries to contact his daughter to tell her he is alive. (Note: This is one of the more serious episodes that deals with Ultraman's dilemma of protecting innocent lives and weighing the existence of Jamila who has no control over himself due to his accident. One of the series best episodes.)

RED HEAT REVENGE
    Loggers are frightened when the forest they're working in suddenly bursts into flames. The WINR team finds the monster Zambora can cause fires to start at will. (Note: As Zambora attacks a city, we hear people screaming but see no one running from the city! Are they invisible? Also, no physical contact is made between Ultraman and Zambora in their confrontation.)

INVASION CIRCUIT
    Computer programmers are mysteriously vanishing into their computers. It is found out that the computer "virus" attacking the people are actually the evil Da-Da invaders who have invaded the internet!(Note: At the end of the episode, the camera pans to a computer that turns itself back on and laughs, leaving one to believe Ultraman hasn't seen the last of the Da-Das!)!

REVIVAL: TWO BIO MONSTERS
    A student archeological dig uncovers two strange artifacts. Upon further investigation, it is discovered the artifacts are actually time capsules that hold the creatures Aboras and Banilla who happen to be natural enemies.(Note: This episode is the closet entry in the series to being a "direct" remake of the original episode-"Devils Come Again".)

TWO HUMAN HEROES
     An oil refinery reports something is draining all of their oil reserves. The WINR team investigates the nearby lake and finds the starfish creature Pestar is behind the
missing oil.(Note: In one of the worst shots, Ultraman throws Pestar into the air with one arm(!) and destroys the creature.)

THE BROUGHT TO LIFE GIGANTIC MONSTER
     A museum unearths a gigantic monster determined to be a Gohorasaurus or Gohora for short. During a rainstorm, Gahora revives and walks away. The WINR team tries to capture the out of control monster.(Note: As Gahora attacks a city, we finally see people running away from the rampaging monster and it actually turns out to be an effective scene.)

POWERED ASSASSINATION PLAN
     A strange object crash lands near WINR headquarters. As Kenichi Kai investigates the object, the monster Dorako appears and Kai transforms into Ultraman. As Ultraman tries to destroy Dorako with his spacium ray, the creature emits a strange beacon. The beacon is relayed to an asteroid where it activates a familiar foe. Ultraman finally manages to destroy Dorako, but a strange object is now approaching Earth.

FAREWELL, ULTRAMAN
     The strange object that Dorako activated crash lands into the WINR headquarters unleashing the doomsday alien Zeton. Kai, still injured from his encounter with Dorako, is summoned by Ultraman again. Ultraman states that Kai cannot fight any longer due to his injury so Ultraman will fight Zeton by himself. Ultraman then teleports away and appears before Zeton and attacks. The creature manages to damage Ultraman's warning light and he is greatly weakened. As Zeton approaches WINR headquarters to destroy it totally, Ultraman manages to summon his remaining energy and blasts the creature with his spacium ray, destroying it. Ultraman then falls helpless due to his energy being gone. The WINR team manages to destroy the Baltan ship and  Ultraman's fellow brothers show up to take the fallen hero  back home to Nebula M-78 to fix his warning light. The Earth is once again safe from aliens and monsters.

        Unfortunately, Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero is probably the weakest entry in the entire Ultraman saga. The show never found a U.S. distributor and played to a lukewarm reception on Japanese television.  One of the problems with the show was a lack of episodes. With only 13 episodes, television syndication companies found that "strip running" or showing the show daily  Monday-Friday was all but impossible. Shows like "The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" had the advantage of a vast number of episodes to run without having to repeat episodes every other week.
        Another problem with the show was the fact that a creative team was hired to make "Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero" with little knowledge of Ultraman to begin with. King Wilder, director of Ultimate Hero, has stated that he had to watch the original Ultraman series to find out who Ultraman was! Evidently, Tsuburaya saw some of King's work with low budget film company Full Moon Entertainment and was impressed with his handling of movies with small budgets and extensive special effects. While his actual directing of the show wasn't all that bad, it was how he filmed the "battle fight scenes" that got fans infuriated. Simply put,  the fight scenes were poorly choreographed and seemingly filmed in slow motion.
        Even Japanese fans expressed their dismay with the fight scenes being too slow and dull.  However, there are some positive things about Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero. The redesigned monster costumes for the most part are excellant. Monster designer Kevin Hudson(Predator, Batman) really shows he took the series to heart. The Kemular, Red King, Telesdon, Gabora, Aboras and Banilla costumes all deserve special mention for the extreme detailing and craftmanship. Many of the monters feature blood shot eyes, pulsating veins, sharp claws and fangs along with plaque covered teeth!  Also nice are the pyrotechnic effects by Hollywood pyrotechnics master Joseph Viscocil(Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back). Joe practically waived his normal "fee" for Ultimate Hero because he had always loved Ultraman!  The mecha designs are also great. Vehicles for the series were designed by Mahiro Maeda, Shinji Higuchi (Special Effects Supervisor for the recent Gamera movies) and Toshio Miike.

Special Thanks to Lenell Bridges and Jill Sylvan for the episode titles on the episode guide.

Text © 1998 Robert Dagg/Daikaiju Publishing
Layout © 2003 Daikaiju Publishing