Ultra Man

Ultra Man

matt chiavelli's picture

OK, this really dates me. This show was on five days a week, after school; I watched it as a kid in the sixties.

It was a Japanese live action show with half hour episodes. It was about a guy named Hiyata, a member of the Space Patrol. Somehow he got fused with this benevolent alien being, taller than a building, named Ultra Man, and could turn into him when the earth was threatened by monsters. Every episode's climax would be a wrestling match between Ultra Man and one of these monsters -- monsters of the guy-in-a-rubber-suit variety. It owed a lot to Godzilla movies.

Hiyata would turn into Ultra Man by holding up this device that looked like a flashlight, and the voiceover would say, "Using the Beta Capsule, Hiyata becomes ULTRA MAN!" Ultra Man was silver, had a pointy head, and big egg-shaped gold eyes that reminded you of an insect's. Besides his wrestling abilities he could fly and shoot destructive energy bolts from his hands. He had a light in the middle of his chest which would start blinking when his energy was low, and after about five minutes in earth's atmosphere it would start blinking. If he didn't hurry up and win the fight, and the energy ran out before he could turn back into Hiyata, both he and Hiyata wiould die. This was a point of suspense in every episode (if you were a naive little kid). Totally formulaic, but a lot of fun at the time.

I remember these shows very fondly and would love to see them again, silly as they were. A few years ago I found some episodes from an Australian remake of the show at Blockbuster, but it just wasn't the same.

Anyone else remember this show?

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Silentshadow's picture

I'm glad they finally released this show on DVD. It took them long enough!

Lygophilia's picture

I remember this show. Did not know it had been released on DVD. Something else to look for.

Silentshadow's picture

There are currently two boxed editions released.

Dr Caligari's picture

After school: Ultraman, Astroboy and Speed Racer!

matt chiavelli's picture

quote:
After school: Ultraman, Astroboy and Speed Racer!

On our local channel, it was Ultraman, Astro Boy, Marine Boy, and finally this character named Eighth Man -- a flying robot with a human soul. I may be remembering this wrong, it was so long ago, but I could swear Eighth Man had cigarettes he would unclip from his belt and smoke to restore his powers. I remember him having all this angst about not being human anymore -- like a foreshadowing of RoboCop.

This was all back in the days when having UHF channels was a big deal!

DevilMerc's picture

Ultra man rocked me to my core! this and ultra-man!! the originators!! then Power Rangers stole everyhting!!

StuntmanMike's picture

I remember seeing a live action movie of Ultraman vs. Godzilla!

That was an awesome monster smashing movie!

jstchorror's picture

Loved this show, glad to see it's on dvd

torsoman's picture

johnny socko somehow ended up in the group/outfit/army called unicorn he was unicorn 7 i think. after being showed giant robot he was showed a watch that was also a communicator device for robo and he said something in it and his voice print was embedded into robo's memory so that he was the only one able to control robo.

now heres one for everybody....does anyone remember space giants?

the only thing i remember is it had a boy who was friends with a android/robot family and he had a whistle if he blew it once the boy robot would answer his call,twice the mother and three times the giant robot goldar would come

all the robots changed to a rocket to fly to the boy

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