Ultraman TV and Movie Licensed to Mill Creek for North Ameri

[lhb412]

There's a comparison on YouTube showing the Hawaiian and Canadian dubs and it appears that the Canadian dubs we're working off of the Hawaiian one since sometimes the lines are identical.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Just finished the last disc of Ultraseven today. Overall a pretty decent show, defiantly prefer Ultraman more though.

That being said I can't wait for Return of Ultraman in February.

[Dr Kain]

Really? Why do you prefer Ultraman more?

[lhb412]

^ I can't speak for him, but in my case I also prefer the original Ultraman to Ultraseven. I love both, and Ultraseven has many virtues, but I think it all has to do with the method of modern viewing, i.e., marathoning them on discs. Ultraman, especially past the halfway point of the series, experiments with different types of episodes and different tones making for more variety. Ultraseven is super tonally consistent, with almost every episode being about a new alien race's plot to take over the world and a creepy feel.

It's more repetitive, even though by many metrics it's better. Probably wouldn't matter when watching the series as originally intended, one episode a week.

[Dr Kain]

Interesting. I don't find Seven at all repetitive since you never know if he is going to grow big, fight a monster at the end of the episode, be human sized and talk or stop a fleet of ships, shrink to save someone from a creature in their body, etc. With Ultraman, it's always something is going to go wrong and Ultraman is going to grow big during the last 5 minutes to fix the problem. Not saying Ultraman doesn't do great stuff, but the show is pretty formulaic.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

I prefer more traditional monsters hence why I enjoy Ultraman more than Ultraseven. As lhb412 stated Ultraseven is pretty much the same episode after episode with a few exceptions that you mentioned Kain. Seven has its merits but I just enjoyed Ultraman more so over it. I also really enjoy Tiga too and from what I've watched of Max I enjoyed that.

[Jinzo Ningen]

[lhb412]

Just to repeat what others have already said: picture quality for the Ultraseven Blu-rays is much stronger than Ultraman.

[O.Supreme]

So...now I am super excited for Ultraman X. Previously I figured it was just another in a string of toy-based series that have come out since 2013. No doubt like Orb & Geed it would have some ok moments, but not destined to be one of my favorites, but something got me curious and I did a little digging. in 2017, the Orb Movie paid tribute to the 50th Anniversary of Ultraseven, which anyone who has the set has most likely seen. But I found online that in 2016 when the X movie came out, not only did it pay tribute to the Original Ultraman's 50th, but also Tiga's 20th. I've only seen clips from the movie, but man...now I can hardly wait to see it!

[lhb412]

^ Of the modern, toyetic shows Ultraman X is the one that most closely captures the classic Ultraman feel.

[O.Supreme]

[lhb412]

^ I've been using it since Freakazoid!

[Dr Kain]

[kiryugoji04]

Ultraman X is DOPE. It's the best of the New Generation series EASILY and the movie is one of the best kaiju films in ages. I feel like Taguchi played it a little safer or was just tired or something when he headed up Orb but in X he's firing on all cylinders. There are a high number of all-timers in here.

[Nippon]

It has become increasingly clear that X, despite having the strongest direction, strongest writing, and strongest individual episodes, tends to get shoved aside because it doesn’t adhere to the modern fad of “binge-able” storylines like Orb and Geed. X feels so much more like a classic Ultra series with relatively self-contained narratives in each episode, and it works almost perfectly. It also manages to smartly incorporate the toyetic elements of modern Ultraman much more effectively than the ENDLESS transformation sequences of Orb, Geed, and RB.
And the overall storylines of Orb, Geed, and RB suffer from a lot of the same problems as X’s, except X doesn’t dwell on the throughline too much, instead leaning on the strength of the individual episodes, something sorely lacking in the following shows. Plus X has the benefit of letting Sakamoto and Taguchi really run free, who tower over all of the other directors of the New Gen.
X is without question the best Ultraman since probably Mebius.

[Dr Kain]

The problem I had with X is that a lot of the characters were left underdeveloped (especially the alien scientist and his two cohorts) and it did get repetitious at times. I will agree that the movie itself is hands down amazing. It will be nice when I can finally watched it properly though instead of that horrible William Shatner-esque dub.

Orb is my favorite because it's what Ultra Seven would have been had he not joined up with Ultra Guard, it doesn't focus on a government military/science organization like the previous 27 Ultra series do, it has a main villain that is throughout the entire show, and nearly every episode has some sort of plot development. Not to mention the Something Search People are very lovable. Oh, and the concept of an Ultraman needing to fuse using the powers of other Ultramen is pretty damn awesome and used effectively.

Also, X didn't have an episode like Orb's Black Star Coffee one or Ginga's Idol Groupie Metron.

EDIT: Just finally finished Disc 5 of Ultra Seven. YAY!!! This show is just so damn perfect.

[Nippon]

Underdeveloped characters are just par for the course for modern Ultraman. I find the XiO members considerably more lovable than the mostly obnoxious and largely useless SSP crew, even if I do have a soft spot for them. However, a character doesn’t necessarily NEED exploration and development if the occupy a flat character arc and simply exist as a constant within the story.
I do love Gai and the coffee bar episode is great but it’s one of the only standouts in Orb, IMO. X by comparison has loads more standout and excellently made episodes like the Gomess ep, Nexus, the “reality TV” ep, the Gomora/M1 ep, and a HELL of a final battle with a memorable final boss.

[lhb412]

^ I love the final boss in X; every series since then has given a main antagonist that it's essentially an evil Ultraman, a fully humanized and characterized character who runs through the majority of the show. That's fine, and probably a lot easier to write and a lot easier for young kids to wrap their heads around, but it also gets a bit repetitive. Also, it moves the franchise from monster fighting into fighting a villain who uses monsters as pawns, which is very slightly different.

X just has a strong alien that is entirely alien and weird and feels like a classic Ultraman monster.

[kiryugoji04]

Yeah, my big issue with more story-driven Ultra series is that they usually trivialize the individual monsters, making them feel more like the nigh-interchangeable Sentai monsters of the week than what I want of of a Tsuburaya show. The Ultra series was created as a way to bring kaiju movies to the small screen and thus X, with its generally more monster-focused stories, is easily the superior show in my book, loose plot threads be damned.

Also, Café Black Star is certainly an above-average episode of Orb, which I generally find charming but deeply lacking in satisfying character work for a show that's meant to be story-driven, and it also has a pretty hilarious director cameo. To say that X lacks anything on the same level is preposterous, however, as it is chock full of franchise all-timers. The episodes featuring Ultraman Max, Ultraman Nexus, and the introduction of Exceed X all had my viewing groups literally SCREAMING in excitement when we watched them together and the episode featuring Gomess was both a delightful stealth celebration of Godzilla's anniversary AND a tearjerking character study of the franchise's captain archetype. Even my girlfriend, always kind of ambivalent about tokusatsu, welled up at the ending to that episode. I would argue that the character work on display in the two episodes focusing on the XIO captains is more satisfying and nuances than anything that happens throughout Ultraman Orb.

And to echo the previous post, Greeza is one of the best final bosses in an Ultra series since OG Zetton.

[Dr Kain]

[kiryugoji04]

Look, if YOU prefer longform storytelling, that's fine but let's not act like it's somehow a superior narrative medium. Calling an Ultra series a "series full of filler episodes" really undersells the wild creativity and narrative possibilities offered by episodic storytelling. It's how you can have deeply nihilistic and tragic episodes like My Home is Earth and slapstick comedic farces like Gift From the Sky within the same series and it totally works without needing to drastically shift from the baseline tone required of a long-running narrative.

Also I'm just kind of baffled that anyone thinks Ultraman Orb is a strong example of longform storytelling. It's... it's fine at best and, ironically, it's best episodes are some of the ones most divorced from the overarching narrative.

[Rody]

Out of X, Orb, and Geed at least (haven't seen Ginga, R/B or Taiga yet), I think I would also rank X as the best of the three, if only because I found it more consistently good than the other two. I get why some would prefer long-form storytelling focused on character arcs - I suppose we westerners are probably more used to that in television nowadays, and if these Ultra shows lasted longer I'd probably desire the same - but I also appreciate shows that rely on individual episodes, following a reliable cast of characters. One of my favorite things about Ultra Q, having finally seen it, was just being able to watch the main trio episode to episode, unraveling the latest mystery/crisis. Not every story needs to build stakes or explore the heroes' inner conflicts; some shows can just be fun to kick back and relax to.

...And I think I'm with kiryugoji04: is Orb (or Geed, for that matter) really that strong of an example in long-form storytelling? This isn't Nexus or Gaia we're talking about here. Besides maybe Gai and Juggler, none of the other characters in Orb have much or any development to speak of, and the SSP just aren't that charming to me either.
One thing I particularly dislike about some of these Ultra shows is how they have this mid-season climax that doesn't feel earned yet; these shows just don't delve that deeply into the characters with the time they're allotted, regardless of the storytelling style. I suspect this franchise needs stronger writers if they want to continue this way.

[kiryugoji04]

I thought Geed was a lot more successful with its narrative, if only because Belial is a much more focused villain than Jugglar, though I do think the cast of characters, while not perfect, were overall more interesting than Orb's. I LOVED Orb's setup but I don't think it did anything interesting with it and Naomi is completely wasted as a protagonist since women in these shows tend to get shortshrifted on account of being women. Geed was guilty of this too but by virtue of having something like three times as many recurring female characters somewhat mitigated that.

[Dr Kain]

[kiryugoji04]

You have an incredibly reductive and asinine understanding of narrative forms, friendo.