Tsuburaya Announces ULTRA GALAXY: GIANT MONSTER BATTLE

[Xenorama]

[Ultraseven]

[kiryugoji04]

[Ultraseven]

[Mac]

WHY COULDN'T WE HAVE TWO COURS OF U7X!?

[TitanoGoji16]

[Enshohma]

Here's an overall review of the series from your's truly, along with tons of eye candy, thanks to the wonderful people at the Ultraman Lah forums (though these uploaded images are from my own Photobucket account):



PLOT SYNOPSIS:

In the distant future, the Earth has been long destroyed, but mankind in alive and well in colonies all across the universe, under the protection of the intergalactic defense organization Zap Spacy. One such Zap Spacy team, the heroic crew of the spaceship Pendragon, head to the planet Bolias, to investigate the fate of hundreds of colonists who have suddenly stopped communications. A mysterious force drags the Pendragon down to Bolias's surface, and to the crew's shock, the various human-built cities are in ruin, and the world is overrun by giant monsters gathered from all across time and space!



During a vicious battle between the skull-headed brute Red King, the burrowing reptile Telesdon, and the crab-clawed Sadora, the team comes across Rei, an apparent survivor of the chaos who has lost his memory, and even more surprisingly, he some how has the ability to summon and control the horned dino-monster Gomora, who quickly saves everyone from Red King's assault. Despite an uneasy first meeting, the Pendragon's captian, Hyuga, convinces Rei to join their team in hopes of recovering not only the truth behind Bolias's new infestation of kaiju, but also Rei's mysterious past. A past which somehow involves vivid visions of a familiar giant being trapped in a mountain cliff side...possibly the legendary alien superhero Ultraman!

Over time, Rei acquires two more monstrous allies in the form of the benevolent fire spitting bird Litra and the long-tailed electrical water dwelling alien Eleking. And as the Pendragon crew travel Bolias, searching for more survivors, they encounter more monsters and clues to the truth. Later in the series, two major villains arrive on the scene; Kate, a cruel alien babe who, like Rei, controls her own trio of nasty monsters (Gan-Q the eye monster, the super ancient Flame Golza, and Zetton the infamous murderer of Ultraman)! And the terrible giant assassin robot dubbed King Joe Black, who is a threat to human and monster alike, and one evil being who even the heartless Kate can't fully control!



REVIEW:

I recently received (and sat through) all 13 episodes of "Ultra Galaxy", and it's obviously a low budget project, with an over use of green / blue screen and indoor sets for a conveniently barren alien world.

At times I felt like I was watching that old live action Dumbo series from Disney Channel's early days. But they really know how to use their tools well, making it a polish production in all. The monster fights are the highlight of the show, with very good fight choreography, keeping true to each of the respective monsters' character. Along with a wonderful mixing of old and new school special effect tricks.

Litra the bird monster is completely made through CGI compared to his 1966 puppet counterpart, and although it looks like CGI, it has a more solid feel and character emotion then what we regularly see on Sci-Fi Channel, along with actual interaction of the CGI elements and live action ones.



The three lead hero monsters, Litra, Gomora, and late comer Eleking, have instantly shot up my favorite giant monsters of all time list. And contrary to early reports, they are all willing allies to the human crew of the spaceship Pendragon, despite Eleking's first episode with him as the primary enemy monster.

Kaiju fans in general, regardless of their feelings towards the Ultraman franchise itself, will fall in love with Gomora; his impressive fighting moves, always classy design, and his new status as a pure hero monster, though one who doesn't lose points in the coolness factor unlike some, makes him irresistible to a lover of them giant monsters. You really do root for him and his two equally nice monster comrades during the fight scenes.

I especially love the fact that the lead monster trio and the human characters really do work together, with Litra and the spaceship Pendragon teaming up to fire on opponents, and the ship's Captain always helping Gomora by giving him cover fire in battle; it's practically the catchphrase of "Ultra Galaxy"!



Rei, the amnesic main hero of the series, beings as a distant jerk who only sees Gomora as a tool to be used against the other, more hostel monsters, despite being a sincere kaiju hero. But his time among the Pendragon crew allows him to open up and becomes a likeable, though slightly off character. But what really makes Rei come together as such is when we do find out about his past and what exactly he is, which I don't want to spoil for those he hate being spoiled, but it was a neat twist on the typical Ultra-show leads.

I also don't want to reveal too much about the final couple of episodes unless you guys want me too, but they certainly set up the basis for a sequel series if they ever wanted to do one. The 13 episodes is too short for a fun program like this, but at least they let the door open a niche for future adventures in a clean and logical manner.

Plus I've always been a fan of 'wildcard villains' who's on nobody's side but their own...so King Joe Black was an awesome foe towards the end, being my ideal monster baddie. Everything that "Godzilla: Final Wars" Gigan should have been.



I have only two minor criticisms on "Ultra Galaxy"; it does start off on the slow, uneven side, but picks up by the third or fourth episode. And although we get lots of monsters, I wish we spent more time with some of them. Neronga, Gan-Q, Bullton and Golza all have nice moments as the focus threats of their respective episodes, but I would loved to have seen more of the visually striking bad guy monster team which was Nova, Saramandora, and Lunaticks.

That's all I have to say on the matter for now...but I diffidently recommend the series to those who have yet to see it.

[Baltan II]

[Enshohma]

[Ultraseven]

[kiryugoji04]

[kiryugoji04]

[ultrasanto]

[Dagarah72]

[TitanoGoji16]

[kiryugoji04]

Rim-Eleking was one of my favorite things about Moebius and I flipped when he popped up in Ultra Galaxy!

[Jim Ballard]

[TitanoGoji16]

[Cookie]

[kiryugoji04]

GOMESS RETURNS!!!

[Baltan II]

Thanks a lot, need a change of pants now.

Although a Gomess appearance is awesome, I'm almost as excited to see Dorako back too! Magura... well, I'm not going to complain, but eh.

[Cookie]

[INVINCIBLE HASTUR]

GOMESS ????????!!!!!!!!!!


This is one Hell of a surprise! Loved the first series, can't wait.

[Enshohma]

[kiryugoji04]