ULTRAMAN ZERO The Movie: Belial's Galactic Empire~!

[king_ghidorah]

[MouthForWar]

[kiryugoji04]

Well I have nothing to add except that this is my second favorite Ultra movie and I loved everything about it. Including the pirates.

[MekaGojira3k]

I dunno how cringe worthy I found the pirates. I thought they were just supposed to be super goofy fire pirates, which they were. The fit in with Glenfire, given his weird personality.

[Godzilla 2000]

[Timz]

[StevenScrivello]

[kiryugoji04]

[kiryugoji04]

Good GOD, I have SUCH a nerdboner right now.

So, here's what I had a friend of mine bring back from Japan for me:



(Not my images, mind you. I'll add one I took myself once I can find the cord for my camera.)

Firstly, LOOK AT THAT PACKAGING. JESUS LORD, IT IS BEAUTIFUL. And SUPER high quality too! I mean, this set is worth it based on packaging alone! PLUS it comes with the COMPLETE storyboards for the film (including deleted scenes) and a book of concept art, both of which are extremely cool. There's also what I believe is a resized reproduction of the press pamphlet for the film.

Then the movie itself. FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF IT IS BEAUTIFUL OH GOD. It's a friggin' REVELATION compared to the (crappier than I ever realized) rip I've been watching for the past year. This movie is GORGEOUS. HNNNNNG.

Okay, moving on: THE EXTRAS. Firstly, seeing the theatrical trailer in HD is GREAT. It's a wonderful trailer and this was the first time I got to see it in a higher resolution than Youtube 480p (BLEAH.)! Then there's a gallery of concept art that's... like... Damn, it's like you can tell it was for this film but it also looks like it could be an entirely different movie. Some differences include Glenfire and Zero fighting in a city, Glenfire shrunk down to human-size and traveling with the heroes, and a radically redesigned Baltan as one of Belial's generals along with Dark Gohne and a deleted enemy based on a Fireman monster (he's also present in the art booklet). Plus the art style is great. Beautiful stuff.

Okay, so, the deleted scenes, right? There are some cool character moments that I'm a little sad had to go but they're no big deal. However, one of them BLEW MY F*CKING MIND. It actually shows the end of the Ultras' battle against Belial's Darklops army (in the movie we just see them flying home after their implied victory) and then we see a barren planet below where ANTLAR and a HERD OF GOMORAS are watching the battle in the sky! Then the storyboard booklet reveals that, aside from getting to see more of the aforementioned battle, during Zero's flight to the Multiverse, we were originally supposed to be treated with similar ground-level shots with Zero flying over planets presumably in the same system as the Land of Light! Included is a flyover of K76 (the red planet from the last film) with Leo, Astra, and Pygmon watching, and a planet that is FULL of monsters, including Wyndam, Agira, Miclas, the HERD OF GOMORAS, Litra, Antlar, and Red King. SO SAD THIS HAD TO BE CUT (although I assume it's because of how rushed the production schedule was).

I haven't watched the making-of in depth yet but one neat little bit that I gleaned from it is that the leader of the Mirror World that our heroes speak to is voiced by none other than the original actor of Mirrorman! Awesome!

DEFINITELY importing the Ultraman Saga memorial box if it winds up being as fantastic a package as this.

[king_ghidorah]

"HERD OF GOMORAS"-best statement ever

[MekaGojira3k]

I would have loved the flyby stuff and the monster cameos.

[kiryugoji04]

It was AWESOME. I just wish they had more time to have been able to include these scenes in the movie (I'm assuming they were cut because of the tight production schedule). It would have been cool world-building to show this monster planet in the same system as the Land of Light.

[kiryugoji04]

Here's the scene with the monsters in it:

[MekaGojira3k]

[kiryugoji04]

Well I think that's the only bit they filmed. Remember, the storyboards show a lot more of this monster planet and the battle near the Land of Light.

[monster of dark]

[emeGoji]

[kiryugoji04]

[TripMasterMunky]

Watched this one today. Kinda feel the same about the last one. It's alright, I don't know if I'd watch it again anytime soon though. This whole Ultraman in space thing...just not diggin' it. I welcome a change in formula though, so I'm always willing to give it a shot. It just feels weird though when the whole film is basically CGI and everything is just constantly "floating" in front of a screen.

And there's always so much random stuff going on it can be hard to follow. I don't know if it's just bad directing or what, because I know the plot isn't that complex. A lot of the times I felt like I was watching a Rebirth of Mothra movie or something because of it's kiddy-ness. Those Japanese space pirates were pretty funny. Glen Fire was awesome. Belial was a badass as always. I want a Arch Belial that's to scale with the Ultra-Act stuff.

Overall these Belial films were okay, I don't see why everyone was raving about them for so long though. Is this really what you guys are into? I mean, it's cool and all, but it ain't got sh!t on a bunch of other films. I mean this is just some dumb kid's movie at the end of the day. Not a man's movie like Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers. That's some good stuff right there. - Okay I'm joking don't get all upset. But I did probably enjoy Superior Ultraman 8 more than the Belial films, despite how cool Belial/Kaiser Belial/Arch Belial was.

These Galaxy films just feel like one big cheesy anime.

[kiryugoji04]

[MekaGojira3k]

[TripMasterMunky]

[kiryugoji04]

Just popped in the Blu Ray here before I run away to work and headed straight to the Glenfire Vs. Zero battle. So much fun! Not to mention gorgeously lit.

[Mac]

If nothing else I have so much respect for this movie. It couldn't have a budget more than a couple million and it attempts to create such a space epic, and honestly I think it succeeds more than it fails. Ultra Galaxy is a string of really cool action sequences, but this feels like a real movie. Bonus Points for reinventing Jumborg Ace, Mirrorman, and Fireman!

I really like this one.

[MekaGojira3k]