Urutoraman: Kûsô tokusatsu shirîzu

This is probably the best Japanese super hero, and it's better than a majority of American superheroes.

Acting is great, lovable characters, decent camerawork, and amazing special effects for a TV budget.

I think why this show is so good and memorable is the monsters. The roster is packed with weirdos and the designs are so memorable. Every single monster has a unique style and theme, except for Greenmon, that's just a giant plant.

This show follows a guy working for the SSSP named Hayata. Hayata is given the power to turn into Ultraman, a being from the land of light, and every week he fights off a unique but dangerous Kaiju.

The biggest problem I have with this show is Hayata, they didn't do the best job picking the protagonist. Hayata is the blandest character of the group and I think Ide should've been the protagonist.

But overall, fantastic show!

The first giant robot Japanese Sci-Fi TV show has something that all the others (Ultraman sequels included) never achieved. It's set in a world of bizarre logic and weird film making that is hard to describe. Unlike American television shows, Ultraman seemed to be played for laughs, very strange laughs, but laughs none the less. Don't expect the self-conscious humor of Batman but a world where people say and do odd things, the plot lines take goofy turns and characters will suddenly turn to the camera and talk to you as if nothing strange is happening at all.

In one episode, the main characters (members of the "Science Patrol" in the Amrican translation) are sent out to find nuclear bombs that fell off a wayward space mission (!) and sank to the bottom of the sea. Unfortunately a sea creature found one of the bombs first and mutates into a giant monster (resembling the Creature from the Black Lagoon) that sinks boats and attacks ocean resorts. All the time a nuclear bomb is stuck on the monster's shoulder. The Science Patrol has the brilliant idea to sooth the enraged beast with music so they get the Japanese Coast Guard to play classical music from a destroyer! This has the opposite effect as the monster rips up and hurls trees around. One member of the Science Patrol make the incredible observation, "The monster doesn't like music, turn it off!". The show stops as the main characters try to figure out why their plan didn't work since "all wild beasts are soothed by music"! It's decided that radiation is the cause of the monster's inability to appreciate fine music!

If you are looking for "rational" entertainment, run far as you can from Ultraman. For the rest of us who enjoy goofy fun, you can't get better then this. The new DVD set has the original Japanese track which has increased my admiration for this show.

So, all I can say is, the 1965 Ultraman is indeed worth watching and in my opinion, it's really great and solid. It is silly and goofy as hell at the beginning of the show, and while the execution might get to be a little bit sloppy in few of the episodes, this is still enjoyable to watch. There are also plenty of interesting fights, and if that's what you did want to expect from this kind of show, then this is pretty much for you.

Even compared to such masterpieces as Ultraseven and Ultraman Mebius, the original still holds up after all these years!

There's great character development (especially for Ide) for the S. S. S. P. and the extras, Kunio Miayuchi's score is wonderful, the special effects are eye-popping, the designs for the kaiju are very unique and appealing, and it has some of the best episodes of the whole franchise( such as "My home is earth", "The Forbidden Words", "The Monster Graveyard", and "The Small Hero" just to name a few.

And it all culminates in a wonderfully satisfying finale which puts the entire earth at stake!

If you love sci-fi, old Godzilla movies, Star Wars, or if your already a fan of the franchise, i cannot recommend this show enough.

This is one of my all time favorite shows, I'm trying to go through as many of the ultraman shows as I can and he is slowly becoming one of my favorite superheroes. This may be an acquired taste, I LOVE things like godzilla or gamera, my whole life I've loved the giant rubber monsters, but I feel like even if you're not into all of that there is still a lot here to enjoy. This shows comedy is gold, my favorite character is Ide and hes the comic relief. Every character in this show is extremely lovable and they all get there time to shine with episodes surrounding each of them. This show gets better the longer you watch it and if you love Japanese monsters, or just science fiction I would recommend this of course.