THE ADVENTURES OF ULTRAMAN (1981)
Feature version of edited episodes of “Za Urutoraman”
Article 3848 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 2-16-2012
Posting Date: 2-26-2012
Directed by Nagayuki Toriumi and Takeyuki Kanda
Featuring the voices of Gary Morgan, Sean Reilly, Buck Kartalian
Country: Japan
What it is: Space opera

A military task force finds themselves faced with an invasion from an intergalactic tyrant. Can even Ultraman face such a dangerous foe… or is it possible that Ultraman may bring forth even greater help?

For some reason, this movie does not have a listing on IMDB, though its sequel (which is cut from the same cloth) is listed. When I first was able to find this movie, I was disappointed to find that the TV series was animated; I’ve seen the original series from the sixties, and for me, much of the charm came from the fact that it was live action. As I actually watched this movie, I was also surprised to discover that the story was more of a big space opera rather than a series of monster encounters, but I suspect that this was due to the fact that this movie was edited from the last four episodes of the series, which delves into Ultraman’s origins and provided a big climax to the series; if the series description on IMDB is correct, most of the series involved the usual monster antics. Only one monster appears in this movie, and it’s not until near the end of the movie. It’s limited animation anime, with lots of explosions and silly dialogue. For what it is, it’s passable enough, I suppose, but I still miss the live-action charm of the original series.