Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

I'm positive this was from a Japanese show/movie that was brought to the USA.

I remember watching it on (I think) WNUVTV 54 (or maybe channel 45) when I lived in Baltimore, MD sometime in the early 1980's.

It was in color (not colorized). The cast was all-Japanese and the show was from Japan, dubbed and brought to the USA.

There were a couple astronauts coming back to Earth in a reentry capsule, but when it was found and opened there were just two skeletons in it. One of them was holding a cube in it's hand. Anyone that touched the cube was reduced to a skeleton as well (this happened several times throughout the episode/movie.

That's mostly what I clearly remember. I thought it was an Ultraman episode, or maybe Jet Jaguar, but I've never been able to find it. I've re-watched all the Ultraman episodes from that time-frame and haven't found it.

I've also started watching Ambassador Magma (The Space Giants in the USA) but so far I haven't found it.

Anyone have any idea what show and episode or movie I'm talking about? I've tried a few other sites with no luck so far.

Wow, I thought this site would know for certain.

I guess I'll never find it.

Not all the details match up, but the whole "spaceship returning to Earth and people turning into skeletons" bit, coupled with the fact that you say it's a Japanese superhero show leads me to believe that you're talkin' about episode 49 of Space Giants, the English dubbed version of the Japanese series Ambassador Magma.

Wow that is amazingly specific. I hope it turns out to be correct. The only live action TV series from Japan that made it over were Ultraman, Space Giants, Specterman, and Johnny Sokko. I saw the first 3 as a kid, but never saw the last one until S!F released it on DVD, and admittedly I haven't seen all the episodes. I know enough about Ultraman to agree that the described events did not appear in that series. The good news is that narrows it down to 3 shows and only about 140 episodes of content. But I'd start with lhb412 suggestion.first