"THE BIRTH OF ULTRAMAN": JULY 10, 1966 The Episode of ULTRAMAN You Never Saw!

お祝いウルトラマン前夜祭『ウルトラマン誕生』とは


The completed final draft script for the half-hour preview special.

Before the scheduled premiere of ULTRAMAN on July 17, 1966, the TBS network proposed to bump up the broadcast date of the first episode ("Ultra Operation: No. 1") a week early, since the rival Fuji Television network were debuting their own color kaiju series on July 4th: AMBASSADOR MAGMA (which would beat Tsuburaya Productions’ show to the airwaves by nearly two weeks).

Eiji Tsuburaya told TBS that there would be no way to get the first episode on-air by the 10th, since the episodes were being shot out of sequential order and ULTRA Q was set to air its final episode on July 10th. Unfortunately, since it featured nary a monster, TBS already decided to pull the final episode of ULTRA Q, "Open Up!" (eventually broadcast in rerun on December 14, 1967).

So, at the beginning of June, TBS began considering options to cover the gap and give the Tsuburaya Productions the time needed to finish the premiere episode of ULTRAMAN. Then, after meetings between the network, Tsuburaya, and the sponsor, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, it was decided to produce a live, nationwide relay broadcast on July 10th and introduce Ultraman to the Japanese public.

Tentatively titled the "Ultraman Eve Festival", TBS Producer Takashi Kakoi, director Akio Jissoji (of "Modern Leaders"-fame), and writer Yuzo Higuchi (who was in charge of production on Ultraman from the TBS side), were appointed to supervise this live television special. The producers chose Tokyo’s Suginami Public Hall to host this television event.

Through a number of brainstorming sessions, Kinjo completed a preliminary teleplay, in which the three characters from ULTRA Q would appear on stage to bid their farewells to the audience. They planned to have actor Koji Ishizaka (Ultra Q's narrator) and popular singer Judy Ong appear as hosts, with the vocal group, The Bony Jacks, as the chorus singers for the special.

Tetsuo Kinjo wrote a revised second draft from the first, entitled "Ultraman: A Children’s Jamboree". Finally, after a third draft, dropping most of the early ideas (due to scheduling conflicts), the script was completed with the final title, "The Birth of Ultraman: An Ultraman Premiere Celebration". This new version, however, was more akin to a strange, high school production.

"Doctor Monster" devises a machine to bring back the monsters from ULTRA Q. kaiju are shuttled back and forth, then revolt, and joined by creatures appearing in ULTRAMAN. Anarchy ensues and Doctor Monster calls in the Science Investigation Agency. Even Eiji Tsuburaya was on hand, sitting in the audience like everyone else, before making his on-stage appearance with the cast of the new show.

While this was something of a mess, it served its purpose. The first episode of ULTRAMAN was delivered to TBS on July 13th, only four days before the initial broadcast, so it can be said that the decision to produce "The Birth of Ultraman" was a success, promoting the start of the series and introducing the characters of ULTRAMAN to the Japanese public, and striking back at Fuji Television.

ULTRAMAN's premiere the following Sunday, was a colossal success, and 50 years later, Ultraman kith and kin are still going strong as Japan’s foremost superhero — here's to another 50 years!

Now, watch the entire kinescope-captured special (no subtitles):


(By the way, Fuji Television's Ambassador Magma was later exported and broadcast in the US as The Space Giants.)

"ULTRAMAN MAX" COMES STREAMING TO THE US! 2005 Ultra Series Premieres October 13, 2014

今『ウルトラマンマックス』は世界中でストリーミングされます！


One of the best of the post-1970s series will stream world-wide!

The Ultra Series goes streaming on premier anime streaming site, Crunchyroll, this Monday, October 13th with ULTRAMAN MAX! This announcement seems to be a two-sprong strategy by Tsuburaya Productions to breech the US market and establish the brand to English-speaking countries around the world — the first being the "Ultra Hawaii" travel campaign established in the Islands, coupled with the English Subtitled broadcast of ULTRAMAN LEO (1974) on Honolulu's KIKU-TV. The Crunchyroll presentation of ULTRAMAN MAX will be available in the United States, Canada, Latin America, UK, Australia, and New Zealand.


DASH agent Kaito Toma (Souta Aoyama) who transforms into Max!

ULTRAMAN MAX was originally aired on Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting from July 2, 2005–April 1, 2006 with 39 episodes (and one "farewell special"), and while following the direction of the modern Ultraman series, such as ULTRAMAN TIGA (1996), also took a step back to its roots with references to the original Ultra Series from the 1960s, ULTRA Q, ULTRAMAN, and ULTRA SEVEN. This retro respect also included three actors Susumu Kurobe, Hiroko Sakurai, and Masanori Nihei, who were in the main cast of the original ULTRAMAN — Kurobe played Hayata, Sakurai played Fuji, and Nihei played Ide (Ito in the US version) of the Science Patrol.


Max gets a chokehold on old-time Ultra Kaiju favorite, Red King!

Many of the original Ultra Kaiju were brought back to life for ULTRAMAN MAX, in addition to all-new monsters and alien creatures (with Episode 29 being as a full-blown homage to ULTRA Q), although the series is set in its own unique universe. In addition to the familiar monsters, a number of guest stars from the long history of the franchise, including Kenji Sahara (ULTRA Q), Sandayu Dokumamushi (ULTRAMAN), Koji Morisugu (ULTRA SEVEN), Ryu Manatsu (ULTRAMAN LEO). Not to mention original ULTRAMAN directors Toshihiro Iijima (Baltan) and Akio Jissoji (Jamila), as well as modern directors including Shusuke Kaneko (Heisei Gamera Trilogy), Takashi Miike (AUDITION), Hirochika Muraishi (DENJIN ZABOGA) and Takeshi Yagi (ULTRAMAN NEXUS).


Director Kaneko behind-the-scenes with actress Hikari Mizushima.

In the very first episode, a strange visitor from space notices Kaito Toma's bravery when the young man risks his own life to help save a lost little boy from danger. The alien gives Toma (Souta Aoyama) the power to become the mighty superhero Ultraman Max, a towering red and silver giant 40 meters tall. When two gigantic monsters threaten the world, Toma uses his new powers to destroy them.

Captain Shigeru Hijikata (Kai Shishido) of Team DASH (Defense Action Squad Heroes), an elite squad of the United Defense Federation, learns of Toma's brave actions and invites him to join Team DASH. To defend from otherworldly dangers, their fantastic arsenal includes the fighter jets DASH Bird 1 and DASH Bird 2, located at their headquarters in Base Titan, a massive off-shore structure in Tokyo Bay.

The agents of DASH include Kenjiro Koba (Nobuyuki Ogawa), the hot-headed weapons expert, Mizuki Koishikawa (Hitomi Hasebe), DASH's ace pilot as brave as she is beautiful, American Sean White (Sean Nichols), and Ellie (Hikari Mizushima), who looks like a beautiful girl, but is really a high powered super android, who serves as Team DASH's operations officer.

Could this new break in North America lead to a possible DVD or Blu-ray release? Who knows, but hold fast to your Max Sparks and remember to set your browsers to Crunchyroll this coming Monday and schuwatch ULTRAMAN MAX!