Spectreman

A pleasure to have these on DVD as they are now in the public domain. Ever since watching them alongside Ultraman, Space Giants, Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot on KTVU Channel 2 in the San Francisco Bay Area during the mid-70's, I've always wanted to be able to view them again. A time when a hero was a hero and stood up to the evils posed by giant monsters and space aliens. Doesn't get much better than that, unless you actually have a real transformation crystal. This show was one of the best of its era and the funky 70's background soundtrack added to its coolness. I advise you to pick up a DVD set on EBay or some other auction site and share the adventure with your family and friends. The great retro looks, music and cheesy acting will take you back to those halcyon days.

One of the wonders of Japanese television. Spectreman was the creation of P Productions, a low-end children's programming company. Their previous shows were animation and the Tezuka created live action Commander Magma which was released here as "Space Giants". This show is a combination of both of their departments.

Much cheaper than the similar Ultraman series, Spectreman was populated with wacky monsters, and a chief villain blue ape on the level of a Halloween rubber mask. Laser beams, rays, and other similar special effects were accomplished by animating over still photographs of the characters! The cheapness was offset by the sheer energy of the show. They kept it moving and fun.

The show was originally presented as three separate series ending up with 63 episodes. It starts as a traditional monster of the week program but it changed into a Kamden Rider / Power Rangers type format with legions of strange fighting aliens battling the hero and his friends in extended martial art battles. The giant monsters never disappear. The design is just bizarre. It's hard to tell if the monsters are lumpy and misshapen on purpose or they just didn't know how to make the suits.

Great fun but somewhat obscure now, that's too bad.

I blind bought this series a few years ago from a bootleg seller on ebay. It wasn't much of a risk since Ultraman is one of the earliest show I remember watching and this is a pretty good knockoff. Oddly, I now find this show a slightly more entertaining watch than Ultraman. All the shows have a environmental theme and the creatures are often hilarious! I love how the female character changes often. It's like they keep upgrading her. Heh! But I can't recommend this enough to fans. I paid about $50 for it. That's a lot, but I wasn't disappointed. Maybe BCI will release this like they did Ultraman. If the quality is equal to that release, I'd upgrade my bootlegs in a minute.

From young age to old Some films just stick in your mind. For me this was one. I actually owned a copy of what i assume was the pilot and the only episode made. If anyone remembers it I am sure that the lead bad guy (man in baboon mask) was actually rather scary. the whole film owed so much to the rules laid out in many Martial Arts films. bad guys with strong looks and silver hair saddled with henchman that , lets face it can ber spotted a mile away(or kilometers if you prefer). the good guy was strong and flawed, it was a cross between Iron Man & Superman and i thought it was above average for a kids pilot. The films deserved a longer run and i think that it should be included in the recent trend for reprinting on DVDs. i would love to know if any one else has seen this or if i am the only person outside of Japan.

At first I really did not like this show; it took about 10 or 15 episodes for it to really grow on me though. Once it got going and the characters were established (other than the women, who switch every 15 episodes or so) it was actually really fun.

Some of the later episodes are actually better than a lot of regular "Ultraman" shows and near the last quarter of the series, it becomes a hybrid of "Kamen Rider" and "Ultraman" which is kinda cool to see.

Karras is easily one of the best villains in any of these shows so far and even though you can only watch the English dub now, it still holds up as one of the greats; knock-off or not.