Ultraman

Those swirling colors that opened the show and the weird music always got me excited as a kid. Ultraman was simply awesome, and although I have not seen the show in over thirty years I can hear him yelling "Hyata" and see the red dotted laser lines emanating from his crossed arms. That ever slowing flashing heart. Discovering as I did just now that one man was responsible for bringing us this and Speed Racer makes me happy Peter Fernandez was around when I was a kid. Ultraman and Speed were both well written for children, suitably violent for a violent world and instrumental in teaching me that evil and wrong are to be put down, even at the risk of personal sacrifice. "Hyata!"

I ran home from school as so many others did to enjoy Ultraman and Space Giants. Reading all the other comments made me realize that even if we never met or come from different walks of life and environments, we share similarities far greater than any in-differences! Long live the spirit of Ultraman-kind! Speed Racer was also another favorite of mine. It increases my belief in our humanness that somehow will always thrive and what is truly good and decent exists in us all when we choose to nurture that which inspires us to spread our most heart-felt and sincere emotions. Not being afraid of sounding odd or out of touch or corny. Like Mary Tyler Moore said....As the human race.."were going to make it after-all".

I was lucky enough to live in an area on the United States that had a station that aired Ultraman and Johnny Sokko & His Flying Robot in the 70's. I was a big Speed Racer fan(now on the SPEED Channel), but was more into the live action tv shows like Jason of Star Command, Ark II, Space Academy, Land of the Lost, Six Million Dollar Man, etc. I've seen many different Ultraman series but this is my favorite and the one I saw in the 70's. The silver praying mantis looking face, the crossing of the arms to shoot an electric charge, it was just great entertainment. Iota was a great character to turn into Ultraman with a great team to fight monsters. TBS aired Ultra 7 for a while, I guess Ted Turner owns the rights, it's similar to this Ultraman series but the production and voice over quality isn't nearly as good. Don't miss it!!!

When I was a kid we watched this series and it was so exciting...and how I used to crush on Hayata, the character who turns into Ultraman. I was recently delighted to discover Ultraman available on some cable channel. The beauty of wires on space craft, the artistry of spinning space junk, the dynamic firecracker explosions, wicked lazer beam special effects, and cheesy Tokyo models being destroyed by various monsters, and the dramatic facial expressions of anger all come together to make this series the absolute pinnacle of Saturday afternoon binging. ...we're currently watching the episode about the alien Mephiles-Sejin attempting to take over the planet. Hayata is being held in suspended animation and Fuji has been turned into a giant Mega-Fugi destroying Tokyo with girly punches. Mephiles-Sejin is furious that the child Satoru is unwilling to give the planet to the alien. Ultraman finds a way to fly to the giant leading monster. After finding it impossible to convince the monster to leave the planet with negotiations, they begin a flight battle the includes the best of light beams. After nearly being annihilated, Ultraman manages to wrestle the bad guy into submission. Yes, another day of Planet Earth being saved by ULTRAMAN. HA HA HA HA!!!

Frankly, I'm surprised to be the first one to talk about Ultraman. This metro Japan action show never talked down to its young audience, and I'm sure a key reason is that Peter Fernandez -- the genius behind the English-ization of Speed Racer -- also was responsible for Ultraman. Always suspenseful and damaging, it's unfortunate Ultraman hasn't found a new audience. They need only put it on the air!

Oh -- who was Ultraman? Basically, this military fellow was able to become the metallic superhero when necessary in order to fight an enormous monster and crush several buildings.