Overall verdict: 5/10
Synopsis
The Good: intricately designed monsters , excellent cast chemistry, serious tone, some well written emotionally charged episodes, good special effects for its time
The Bad: stiff fight choreography and stunts, amateurish directing and camerawork, cheap looking practical sets and models, repetitive music, looked like a parody at times, wasted potential
***********Review***********
Disappointing cannot begin to describe ULTRAMAN: THE ULTIMATE HERO. The series's largest selling point is that it was "made in Hollywood". But guess what, you can get a Beverly hills college student to film his dog and that film would still be called "made in Hollywood". Instead of hiring some reputable director , "A list" actors or even a decent production studio, Tsuburaya Productions decided to be total cheapskates. They hired a production team of mostly new comers, a first time director and some unknown production company called "Major Havoc Entertainment".
Sure, it would be easy to throw all the blame on Hollywood for how this show turned out. For a great show, any great show, you need expertise, experience and money. This show only had the first out of the three and it is apparent in the great looking creatures and sets. All the costumes for the various alien creatures look really convincing due to them being made out of sculpted foam latex and plastic instead of soft rubber.
The monsters had animatronic heads that allowed lifelike movements in the eyes and mouth and the latex could be sculpted to mimic scales or armor plating. This version of the Ultraman character is possibly the best looking of all; no horns, no extra bling, just a leaner, meaner and more streamlined version of the original Ultraman design. The sculpted costume gave him a more muscular look and special effects that produced his powers, though dated by today's standards, was years ahead of Power Rangers.
The monsters had animatronic heads that allowed lifelike movements in the eyes and mouth and the latex could be sculpted to mimic scales or armor plating. This version of the Ultraman character is possibly the best looking of all; no horns, no extra bling, just a leaner, meaner and more streamlined version of the original Ultraman design. The sculpted costume gave him a more muscular look and special effects that produced his powers, though dated by today's standards, was years ahead of Power Rangers.
A lack of experience and money is to blame for the show's failure. Starting with the story, Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero, or otherwise known as "Ultraman Powered", consists of 13 episodes which are essentially remakes of 13 of the better episodes from the original Ultraman TV show. The main focus is on the "Worldwide Investigation Network of Response" or WINR(pronounced "Winner") and their attempts to investigate and put down any alien activity.
Their main enemy is the Baltans, a race of bug-like aliens who want to destroy earth and almost succeed at doing so with a giant Baltan warrior until the mysterious space giant "Ultraman" shows up. Ultraman is an intergalactic law enforcer who pursued the Baltans to earth and saves the life of WINR member Kenichi Kai by joining with his life-force. Now in times of danger, Kai can transform into Ultraman to do battle with other giant monsters.
Their main enemy is the Baltans, a race of bug-like aliens who want to destroy earth and almost succeed at doing so with a giant Baltan warrior until the mysterious space giant "Ultraman" shows up. Ultraman is an intergalactic law enforcer who pursued the Baltans to earth and saves the life of WINR member Kenichi Kai by joining with his life-force. Now in times of danger, Kai can transform into Ultraman to do battle with other giant monsters.
Though the story is made of up 13 separate stories taken from the original Ultraman series in the 60s, the writers have tied each episode together by having a back-story that each monster was an attempt by the Baltans to test Ultraman's abilities. The episodes themselves were of varying quality but when they were good they were very good. Episode 6 "A Father's Love" stands out as the most emotionally charged of all and the series is propped up by the excellent chemistry shared by the cast.
The flaw comes in the overall "feel" of the show. The writing and dialogue took itself quite seriously, perhaps too seriously. Afterall this was a show where members of WINR flew about in a giant multi colored space ship and used ray guns. Perhaps a more realistic or down-to-earth set up would have worked better.
The flaw comes in the overall "feel" of the show. The writing and dialogue took itself quite seriously, perhaps too seriously. Afterall this was a show where members of WINR flew about in a giant multi colored space ship and used ray guns. Perhaps a more realistic or down-to-earth set up would have worked better.
The inexperience of the production crew obviously shows despite the best efforts of the writers and the special effects team. The director has a tendency of choosing all the wrong camera angles and does not seem to know how to creatively mask props. For example, the director would constantly use a ground shot to give Ultraman a sense of scale. However this makes the toys that the crew put to represent vehicles very obvious.
You also end up with horrible scenes such as this shot of the Baltan below where you can obviously make out the sound stage, the paste-on windows of the cardboard buildings and the fact that the Baltan alien is wearing shoes!
Star Wars also used props on strings for flying vehicles yet director King Wilder's camera-work makes the props like WINR's jets and spaceships look like nothing more than props on strings. Fight choreography is almost non-existent; Ultraman hardly punches or kicks anything, most of the time he just jumps about and lightly shoves monsters around.
While the monsters themselves look great, they are extremely stiff. This makes for some really silly moments where a monster merely taps Ultraman with a finger (perhaps the script called for a powerful swipe but since the monsters were so stiff, such a swipe came off as a tap) and it sends Ultraman toppling to the soundstage.
You also end up with horrible scenes such as this shot of the Baltan below where you can obviously make out the sound stage, the paste-on windows of the cardboard buildings and the fact that the Baltan alien is wearing shoes!
Star Wars also used props on strings for flying vehicles yet director King Wilder's camera-work makes the props like WINR's jets and spaceships look like nothing more than props on strings. Fight choreography is almost non-existent; Ultraman hardly punches or kicks anything, most of the time he just jumps about and lightly shoves monsters around.
While the monsters themselves look great, they are extremely stiff. This makes for some really silly moments where a monster merely taps Ultraman with a finger (perhaps the script called for a powerful swipe but since the monsters were so stiff, such a swipe came off as a tap) and it sends Ultraman toppling to the soundstage.
Rumor has it that Tsuburaya Productions themselves refused to increase the budget or hire a more experienced production company. It is also said that they insisted that the sillier elements like the corny spaceships and ray guns be kept. It is as if they came to Hollywood expecting a blockbuster on the scale of Jurassic Park but forgot that to make a big show you first need a big budget.
Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero could have been much more than how it turned out. It could have been the big budget special effects extravaganza that updated the classic series for a modern audience. Alas all it ended up being was an obscure, rarely referenced entry in the long running ULTRAMAN franchise; almost like an old shame for the franchise, ridiculed for its flaws, and only acknowledged for its gorgeous designs. If you do not have time to check out the entire 50 episode 1966 Ultraman, then check out this show for an effective summary. If not, just check out this show for the fun of it.
***********Review***********
Entertainment: B-
Story: C-
Acting: B
Characters: B-
Music: D
Replay value: B-
"Brains": C
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