Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero

Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero
Format	Tokusatsu
Created by	Eiji Tsuburaya
Written by	Todd Gilbert Tim Lennane Walter A. Doty III John Douglas Stephen Karandy Bud Robertson King Wilder
Directed by	King Wilder
Starring	Kane Kosugi Harrison Page Sandra Guibord Robyn Bliley Rob Roy Fitzgerald Scott Rogers
Voices of	Sho Kosugi
Composer(s)	Toshihiko Sahashi
Country of origin	United States Japan
Language(s)	English Japanese
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producer(s)	Noboru Tsuburaya
Producer(s)	King Wilder Kazuo Tsuburaya Shigeru Watanabe Juliet Avola
Editor(s)	King Wilder Vanick Moradian Nina Gilberti
Location(s)	Los Angeles, California, United States
Cinematography	Don E. FauntLeRoy Carlos González
Running time	25 mins
Production company(s)	Tsuburaya Productions
Distributor	Bandai Visual Company
Broadcast
Original channel	Tokyo Broadcasting System
Original run	April 8, 1995 – July 1, 1995

Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero (also known as Ultraman Powered (ウルトラマンパワード, Urutoraman Pawādo)) is a tokusatsu series produced in the US in 1993 by Major Havoc Entertainment (later renamed Steppin Stone Entertainment) and Tsuburaya Productions (the creators of the Ultraman character), with a total of 13 episodes. Following the footsteps of the Australian-produced Ultraman: Towards the Future, this was the second live-action Ultra Series produced outside Japan. The show is an English adaptation of Eiji Tsuburaya's Ultraman, and is the first adaptation, with Ultraman Neos the second.

Titled Ultraman Powered for Japanese release, the show was released on home video there on December 17, 1993, and later aired on Tokyo Broadcasting System from April 8 to July 1, 1995. This was the 11th Ultra Series.

However, despite being produced in America, the show was never broadcast there. Although having impressive costume designs, the action was quite weak compared to other installments of the Ultra Series, due to the costumes being fragile. After this series, Tsuburaya has since focused on domestic productions.

Story

The members of WINR (pronounced "Winner") respond when members of the alien Baltan race attack Earth, but the Baltans are only fended off when a gigantic alien, Ultraman Powered, joins with WINR member Kenichi Kai and gives him the power to metamorphose into Ultraman in times of danger. At the end of the first episode Ultraman declares that the Baltans were not completely defeated and that he will remain on Earth to continue the fight.

WINR and Ultraman destroy numerous other monsters, but WINR learns that the Baltans were arranging all the battles to learn Ultraman's strengths and weaknesses. They also learn Kai's secret identity when Ultraman is injured by Dorako and Kai sports an identical wound. In the finale the Baltans unleash their most powerful monster, Zetton. Ultraman separates from Kai and takes on Zetton, but is overwhelmed. Ultraman's color timer is flashing more and more rapidly as he tries to blast Zetton only to have Zetton easily withstand the blasts. He then summons more energy despite the risk to fire a shot at Zetton's ship. This causes the shot to bounce off it towards Z-ton's back but he turns and blocks the shot. However this gives Ultraman an opening and he summons the last of his energy for one final blast that hits Zetton in the back, destroying him. Ultraman then falls over backwards as his energy is completely drained. Before he can perish completely, other members of the Ultra race, appearing as balls of light, arrive and convert Ultraman into a red ball of light so that he can return home.

WINR (Worldwide Investigation Network Response)

• Captain Russel Edlund (Harrison Page) -
• Theresa Beck (Sandra Guibord) -
• Julie Young (Robyn Bliley) -
• Rick Sanders (Rob Roy Fitzgerald) -
• Ken'ichi Kai/Ultraman (Powered) (Kane Kosugi) -
• Ultraman (Scott Rogers, voiced by Sho Kosugi) -

Episodes

1. "On a Mission from M78"
   • Monster: Baltan
2. "Attack Kemular From Behind"
   • Monster: Kemular
3. "A Quartet of Creatures"
   • Monsters: Red King (Male & Female), Chandrah, Pigmon
   • Guest stars Jeffrey Combs.
4. "The Dark Past"
   • Monster: Telesdon
5. "Monstrous Meltdown"
   • Monster: Gabora
6. "A Father's Love"
   • Monster: Jamila
7. "The Fires Beneath"
   • Monster: Zambolar
8. "The Dada Effect"
   • Monsters: Dada (A, B & C)
9. "Devils from the Crypts"
   • Monsters: Aboras, Banila
10. "Deadly Starfish"
    • Monster: Pestar
11. "Dino Might"
    • Monster: Gomora
12. "Falling Stars Spell Trouble"
    • Monsters: Dorako, Red King
13. "The Final Showdown?"
    • Monsters: Zetton, Psycho-Baltan

Production

Veteran makeup artist and Ultraman fan Steve Wang was originally approached by Tsuburaya to do the show, but turned it down, not feeling that he would have as much creative control; Tsuburaya had rules concerning how Ultraman should be done.

Sho Kosugi, who provides Ultraman's voice in the English version, is the father of Kane Kosugi, who plays Kenichi Kai.

This is the only time that Red King is actually red (as opposed to gold & blue). Ultraman Powered's eyes are normally blue, but they change to yellow when his color timer is blinking yellow, and red when the timer blinks red.

Media

Cameo

• Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy (2009), Powered along with other M78 Ultra Warriors fight against the evil Ultraman Belial. However it must be noted that despite appearing in this movie, he did not appear in the Ultraman Mebius series. The Ultraman Mebius series is the series that establishes which Ultras are members of the "Ultra Brothers."

External links

• Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero at the Internet Movie Database
• Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero episode guide