Ultraman TV and Movie Licensed to Mill Creek for North Ameri

[lhb412]

Heck yeah!

https://mobile.twitter.com/MillCreekEnt ... 9832758273

[Benjamin Haines]

[O.Supreme]

So, I've seen some people online speculating on the complete spine Mural for the Mill Creeek BRD releases. I heard someone say it will likly be *The 8 original Showa Series*, which at first mention makes sense. I know that 80 hasn't been released on BRD yet in Japan, but I'm sure once it is, it will not be long before Mill Creek gets it to the North American market. Additionally, I know The☆ Ultraman kind of stands out as an oddball, being animated. But I really hope it is included, and this is really a 9 volume mural, not just 8.

I expect All of the series from Zero through Taiga to have similar packaging from what we've seen with Orb & Geed. Also I'd expect most of the Showa Ultra's (Tiga through Moebius) to have perhaps something new, but unique to themselves. Some of the oddballs like Great , Powered, U7X, Neo Ultra Q etc... not sure what to expect, but the anticipation is half the fun .

[Benjamin Haines]

I don't think the mural is going to include a hand-drawn Ultraman standing among all of those live-action costumes. My guess is The Ultraman would get its own unique package design as the only animated series.

The above photos show Ultraman Jack facing forward on the Return of Ultraman spine, rather than looking off in the same direction as Ultraman and Seven, so Return of Ultraman is probably either the center of a 7-piece mural or the co-center of an 8-piece mural. If the Ultraman Ace spine has him facing forward like Jack, that would indicate that Ultraman 80 is on the docket for Mill Creek, while a spine showing Ace facing the opposite direction of Seven would suggest that the mural ends with Ultraman Leo.

[Dr Kain]

Good catch on Return. So who is the monster you can barely see a limb to for Ace at the edge?

[lhb412]

I believe the mural will extend to Leo, because while 80 is in continuity it's a bit of an outlier. That run from the mid-60s into the mid-70s is apparently considered something like the series' golden age.

[O.Supreme]

Hrmmm...haven't seen any reviews of RoU, or Orb Origin on Youtube, did MC not send out advance copies to reviewers on this one? Also, my pre-order states Orb Origin is schedule dot arrive on Tuesday (2/25) as expected, but there is no shipping information for RoU yet....

[Dr Kain]

[Dr Kain]

Five minutes into the first episode and we have "mosnter." However, it was only one time between the first two episodes.

[lhb412]

I am so excited to watch Return of Ultraman next week. The first of the shows that was always behind the proverbial Iron Curtain and the one I always thought looked most interesting. So exciting!

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Amazon still doesn't have an estimate for my order for Return of Ultraman. I'm hoping it still ships out in time for a Tuesday, if not I'm going to cancel my preorder of Ultraman Ace and go preorder at Best Buy.

[lhb412]

^ Me too. I'm really excited for this release, but if there's a delay in stocking or whatever I'm not too bummed. If it's a couple of days late maybe I can marathon Orb Origin before I get Return?

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Looks like I will be getting the set on Thursday now. So a couple of days late. I tried contacting Amazon support today to see what the issue was and got no where with them, however they did offer me a $5 credit on my account so I'll use that and preorder Ultraman X or something.

[Dr Kain]

I watched episodes 3-6 of Return just now. They weren't bad. Actually, the Twin Tail/Gudon 2 parter was quite good as it showed us that the people who run MAT have no qualms about sacrificing people with nuclear bombs while MAT itself is against it. There's also some good lightning and CSO scenes.

Video quality still looks good but "mosnter" showed up a few more times and there was one line that seemed oddly translated.

[lhb412]

Well, since I'm two days off from watching Return of Ultraman let's see if I can finish all of this Ultraman Orb spin-off stuff in that time! I was a bit worried that they'd stuff all of Origin on one disc since one disc is labeled Origin and the other Ultra Fight, but that's just a labeling mistake as the 12 episodes of the Origin Saga are split over the two discs: 7 episodes on the first, 5 on the second in addition to Ultra Fight.

[Dr Kain]

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Amazon shipped my order out today but its not coming until Friday according to their shipping info. I hope it shows up sooner than that as I really want to start this show. I can't be to mad I did get a $5 credit from them for the trouble.

If I get an issue with Ace I'm done ordering the Ultra series from Amazon. I'll just preorder from Best Buy and pay a little bit more but at least I'll get it BEFORE release date.

[Dr Kain]

[Jinzo Ningen]

Shameful as it might be to say, I am interested in getting Jack & Ace only because I have never seen any episodes of either of them, not because I've heard they're great or that I'm missing out if I don't see them. It's not even for completist's sake, as I have no desire whatsoever to watch Taro. The continued shoddiness of the design & execution of the monster suits as the series slogged thru the rest of the 70's is a real turn off. They're often on par with (or even worse than) Spectreman, and that's pretty sad for a company that's supposed to be the crown jewel of toku. Frequently they look more like cheapjack junk cranked out for personal appearances and stage shows (Z-ton in 'Return of' for example); lumpy, misshapen, wrinkly and saggy. Ugh. I know, I know... 'budgets' etc., etc. Still, I can only hope the stories, human drama and presence & appeal of the actors will help compensate.

[lhb412]

^ Some of the effects in Return are some of the best tokusatsu stuff I've seen, especially in regards to miniatures. Some of the early Ace stuff is pretty strong, too - though I understand there's a downturn in quality during the series?

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

[Jinzo Ningen]

[O.Supreme]

Return was the series I wanted to see most for a long time. I cant believe it's been more than 20 years since I got a VHS of the first 4 episodes at a convention! I got the Licensed Malay DVD a couple years back, but it will be nice to see this with better video presentation and quality English Subs. It is also the series that takes the biggest turn. I love the early episodes, but as the series progresses, you see the dramatic shift to silliness that would become the staples of Ace and Taro. I hated it at first, but after watching some of those later series episodes, I get it now. Still the first 20 or so episodes of Return are some of my favorite of the entire franchise.

Amazon has my set scheduled to arrive Friday as well. However have a backlog of stuff to watch so I *may* have time to finish Return by the time X is released in April , not sure when Ill get started with it.

[Dr Kain]

[Dr Kain]

Well "OH GODZILLA! WHAT TERRIBLE LANGUAGE!", the subs on episode 17 are mistimed and quite badly too. There were times when 3 sets of subtitles went by before a character even finished their sentence.

With that said, I watched Disc 2 today and I've finally figured out what it is that is really holding this show back. It's been all formulaic Kaiju stories and not a single alien menace to be had. Add on top that Go is just a bland protagonist and the supporting characters remain one dimensional.

I did like the episode where Kishida got some development though when he learned of his dad's involement with creating some poisonous gas that a monster ended up consuming. I do wish they actually showed Kishida confront his dad on the matter though.

On the other hand, right now my least favorite episode of the show is one that features a lying boy whose dad was killed by a monster, but then the boy wants the monster to destroy Japan. It just makes no sense whatsoever as the narrative is all over the place. The best part is what Go pretend he is Bright Noa while the boy si Amuro.