ULTRA-THREAD

[DaikaijuSokogeki!]

That is honestly the first trailer that has gotten me somewhat excited for the film. Namely because Team AKB48, er, Team U is barely in the trailer. I feel like I'd be more excited if I've seen Ultraman Dyna and Ultraman Cosmos, however.

[dogora]

it looks like gubira is a good guy this time.

[Destroyer]

Just saw the episode with the infamous Jirass. This monster was great, now I want his figure, haha. If any monster should return, it's this guy.

[HikizuruBeat]

Just saw the episode with the infamous Jirass. This monster was great, now I want his figure, haha. If any monster should return, it's this guy.

I love Jirass and the marmit figure looks really cool.
Sadly I doubt he'll return because he looks too much like godzilla. I mean yeah the re-used a godzilla suit and added a frill pretty much.

[dogora]

Just saw the episode with the infamous Jirass. This monster was great, now I want his figure, haha. If any monster should return, it's this guy.

I love Jirass and the marmit figure looks really cool.
Sadly I doubt he'll return because he looks too much like godzilla. I mean yeah the re-used a godzilla suit and added a frill pretty much.

they maneged to bring back gomess, litora and several baragon suit used monsters so why not jiras?

[Rody]

Gomess was very heavily modified; you have to know what to look for to realize it's a Godzilla suit.

With Jirass, on the other hand, the crew simply added bright paint & a frill to the suit.

[Jomei]

... and Baragon isn't Godzilla.

But yeah, cool monster.

[darthzilla99]

http://henshinjustice.com/2012/03/03/he ... ng-to-dvd/

According to Henshin justice, there is a dvd of Heisei Ultra Seven coming out in the US. I was wondering if someone like KPA or August Ragone knows anything about this? If this is for real, I am quite happy.

[Jomei]

http://henshinjustice.com/2012/03/03/heisei-era-ultra-seven-coming-to-dvd/

According to Henshin justice, there is a dvd of Heisei Ultra Seven coming out in the US. I was wondering if someone like KPA or August Ragone knows anything about this? If this is for real, I am quite happy.

Holy mother of balls that's expensive.

Where does it say it's coming out in the US, though? I see a US dollar price, but that's probably just to give the Amurricans an idea of how much the yen price translates to. I'd be pretty surprised if we got a $500 box set of the Heisei Ultraseven before a more modestly priced set of the original.

[darthzilla99]

My bad, it was generation kikaida that said its for US. http://www.generationkikaida.com/forum/ ... php?t=1649
I saw it there first and then must not have paid attention.

The only explantion I can see of it being US is the fact the box art is in english and does not have japanese characters on it. Mabey this is a singipore dvd set?

I will say this much though, if it is a legit US dvd, it is not gonna sell that well with that price tag. I will be saving for it, but I tought the other ULTRA fans in the US is as welling to fork over as I am.

[o.supreme]

I dont think it is a US release. If you follow the source (VAP), you get this page:

http://www.vap.co.jp/u-seven/dvdbox.html

It appears to be region 2 (DVD) only. It would be a nice template for a US distributor to purchase the rights for however...

[kpa]

Check out SciFi Japan for an early review of the new movie, ULTRAMAN SAGA!

http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2012 ... aman-saga/

[kpa]

O.supreme is correct. It's a Japanese release.

[o.supreme]

Check out SciFi Japan for an early review of the new movie, ULTRAMAN SAGA!
http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2012 ... aman-saga/

Nice read! It's too bad the film did not live up to Jim’s expectations. Still I won’t discount it until I’ve had a chance to see it for myself. But I agree in some respects that it seems these movies have “run their course” would I like to see more? Sure. But unlike Jim and some others that believe the movies have gone down a bit in Quality since Ultraman Mebius & Ultraman Brothers (2006). My opinion is that they actually got better and peaked out at Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy (2009). For me personally this was the closest to a “perfect” Ultraman movie as there ever has been, and the next entry was considerably weaker.
I do have a few questions though…

The poster shows Showa Era- Ultraman, Seven, Jack & Leo, yet there is no mention of them in Jim’s review, and no pictures? Do they just have Cameo’s? If they are not involved in the fights at all, this would be a major let down.

-Not related to this film, but I’ve still just been wondering- Is there any interest from Tsuburaya at ever bringing back Gridman? (2013 would be his 20th anniversary) I mean the last film showed reimagining of 3 other Tsuburaya heroes. I think Computer Viruses are more relevant now than they were 20 years ago. Seeing an update of Gridman paired up with some Ultramen would be truly awesome IMHO (heck- if Ultraseven can shrink down, who’s to say other Ultra’s cant?)

[kpa]

I do have a few questions though…

The poster shows Showa Era- Ultraman, Seven, Jack & Leo, yet there is no mention of them in Jim’s review, and no pictures? Do they just have Cameo’s? If they are not involved in the fights at all, this would be a major let down.

I haven't seen the film, but my understanding is they just have cameos along the lines of their appearances in ULTRAMAN ZERO. If I hear otherwise, I'll post it here.

-Not related to this film, but I’ve still just been wondering- Is there any interest from Tsuburaya at ever bringing back Gridman? (2013 would be his 20th anniversary) I mean the last film showed reimagining of 3 other Tsuburaya heroes. I think Computer Viruses are more relevant now than they were 20 years ago. Seeing an update of Gridman paired up with some Ultramen would be truly awesome IMHO (heck- if Ultraseven can shrink down, who’s to say other Ultra’s cant?)

I haven't heard anything about a Gridman revamp but-- like you said-- TPC has a history of reviving old characters so I wouldn't be surprised if a new version of Gridman pops up in a film or video special.

[o.supreme]

Thanks for the responses Keith. Also I read your comment on another thread about the upcoming Ultraman movie guide for Sci-Fi Japan. I cant wait for that! I really like Tiga, and was recently able to stream the short film: Ultraman Tiga Gaiden: Revival of the Ancient Giant (2001) (The only movie with Tiga I had not seen). Unfortunately this was quite a disappointment. There were many cool concepts (Ultraman going back in time etc...) but it just seemed to fall flat, unless something was lost in translation (the fansubs were not the greatest). Also I didn't even see the Tsuburaya logo at the beginning, so I wasn't even sure if this was a True Ultraman film, or just a knockoff. If anyone who has seen this could fill me in, this would be appreciated. Thank you

[Jim Ballard]

But I agree in some respects that it seems these movies have “run their course” would I like to see more? Sure. But unlike Jim and some others that believe the movies have gone down a bit in Quality since Ultraman Mebius & Ultraman Brothers (2006).

As individual movies, I don't think there's been a downward trend in quality since 2006. For me, it's really been going up and down every year. The latest just happens to be the worst.

What I was touching upon at the end of the review wasn't so much the quality of individual movies, but the tedium of the increasingly convoluted universe(s) we've been stuck in since 2006 as a whole. Recently they just seem to be picking random Ultramen out of a hat and making a movie regardless of whether or not it makes any kind of rational sense for these different worlds to come together. The over-sized mega monsters in every movie are also starting to become a huge bore. After 6 years of this, I'd just like to get something totally fresh like we did with COSMOS, NEXUS, MAX, etc. I didn't even like COSMOS, but at least it tried something different.

[o.supreme]

As individual movies, I don't think there's been a downward trend in quality since 2006. For me, it's really been going up and down every year. The latest just happens to be the worst.

Oh I get it, Kind of like the Star Trek films. Anyaway, thank you for clarifying Jim, and I agree 100% that the quality of the films does have an "up and down" trend, and the choices of Ultramen does seem random. Although it feels at times like they try for variety, and for who has not been seen in a while, ...well except for Dyna. Again- great review Jim. Thank you for yoru time, and I envy you for being able to attend a movie premier such as this.

[NSZ]

Although it feels at times like they try for variety, and for who has not been seen in a while, ...well except for Dyna.

Does that really justify tossing every timeline into a blender and hitting puree, though?

[Rody]

The way I see it, the majority of Ultra warriors originally came from the same universe & the same planet. They simply were traveling to alternate Earths.

That's my explanation, anyway.