Talk:Ultraman

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[edit] Better storyline than the sentai shows?

No two Ultraman shows seems alike from my watching of the series, the show could be carried without help(lets not hope not). I think it should be noted that every Ultraman series differs from the other shows in the Japan because it lacks an everyplot thus making it similar to shows like the X-files and Star Trek rather than the stock Kaiju shows in Japan. Anyone else agree? Although Ultraman episodes end with him beating the monster, he does it in different ways. Sometimes they don't fight at all...sometimes the science patrol wins with minimal help from red and silver etc etc.


  • I absolutely disagree... Original Ultraman is just a weekly monster-a-day show. I love the shows, but the originals are just same old every generation. Suredeath 13:13, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Questions:

  1. What is a VTOL?
  2. Ultraman Great @ Ultraman Towards the Future - is that @ correct?
  3. What does the last sentence mean? How do more than one Ultraman appear?
  4. Why was the original title of this article UltraSeven/Ultraman? What is UltraSeven? -- Zoe

Is this the favorite hero of Shin-Chan, Shinosuke or whatever that anime child is called? -- Error

No it's not, Shin-chan's favorite hero is called Action Kamen -- Zaim

Answers for Zoe from Joe Sewell, editor/author of The Ultra[man] FAQ:

  1. VTOL stands for Vertical Take-Off and Landing. It refers to an aircraft that can lift off and land without a runway. The vehicle Hayata was in was called a Jet VTOL, often mispronounced "Jet Beetle" (since Japanese has no real "V" sound).
  2. The @ is, indeed, not correct; my recent edit corrects this.
  3. I suspect the comment about the last sentence refers to a previous version, but just in case it's still not clear ... Series in Japan tend not to be renewed, as they are in the United States of America, but get sequel series. For example, Dragon Ball Z is a sequel series to the original Dragon Ball. The various Ultra-series were, for the most part, sequels to their predecessor(s).
  4. Ultraseven is the second "Ultra-brother" to appear. The series of the same name was the sequel to Ultraman. Neither Ultraman nor Hayata appeared in Ultraseven, although both appeared in later series. Perhaps I should create a list of all the different series and/or Ultras in each one? (Oh, there can be more than one Ultra around, too; each one is a separate individual.)

Joe Sewell 16:22, 27 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I actually played as an extra in Ultraman Millenium Live Show in Bangkok and I got some pictures, of which one has 2 actors wearing Ultraman suites, I made the pictures so the copyright lies with me. I want to upload them, do you think it will be a problem? (as the show was organized by the Thai company in a legal battle with the Japanese company)Waerth 09:35, 1 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Well, I'm relatively new here, so I probably should let one of the "experts" handle this, but as I understand it, you might be better off uploading those pictures to a more private area, such as one of the Yahoo! Groups that deal with Ultraman. --Joe Sewell 21:00, 22 Apr 2004 (UTC)
No complaints were heard on the Dutch wiki where I put the picture on my personal page, so I just go for it. Waerth 08:26, 3 May 2004 (UTC)
I type corrected, then. Go for it! --Joe Sewell 13:29, 14 May 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Removing picture

Can the anon in the 61 range please stop removing the picture on this page?? thx. Waerth 12:37, 24 Jan 2005 (UTC)

The picture of Ultraseven and Ultramother should be deleted, since this article belongs more to the original Ultraman series than to the whole franchise. We've got the Ultra Series article now. Black Condor 19:58, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Remove most of the "dispute" section

April 4, 2005, I'm concerned that I may get into an EDIT war with someone very passionate for Tsuburaya. A bunch of info was added that was mostly speculation.

Actually, as of this writing (8/4/2005), the section is as fair, balanced and truthful as it gets. Whoever edited it put it much more eloquently than I could.  :)

Personally, I am very passionate for Tsuburaya. Chaiyo is a bunch of con-artists. The article seen on the Thai newspaper THE NATION (about Sompote Saengdeunchai's "court victory" and Tsuburaya's subsequently facing "financial difficulties") was a big lie, and it has gone too far.

FYI, as for the part where Sompote and his son Pirasith could go to jail for 5 years if they lose, it came from this article (which explains his side of the story):

http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/magazine/life/0,8782,185619,00.html

And remember, this is the same guy who asked Toei for permission to do a Kamen Rider movie. When Toei refused, Chaiyo did it anyway: Hanuman and the 5 Riders. I guess Toei knew better . . .

Ryuuseipro

[edit] Too much detail?

I see someone added tons of detail about the original Ultraman. Should we keep it, move it to a new Ultra-specific page, or what? (If the latter, we probably should flesh out the other Ultra-warriors' stories, too.)

I tried to change some of the wording to indicate this isn't the only Ultraman around. --Joe Sewell 16:58, 24 May 2005 (UTC)

I notice there are links to all the other Ultraman series, which causes me to think we should have separate pages. Perhaps the individual who provided all the detail from the first series would like to move it to a new page, named "Ultraman (original)" or something like that? --Joe Sewell 01:32, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Kirby/Ultraman question

Dear author: On your Ultraman page, it mentioned that one of the episodes of Kirby Right Back at Ya' had a reference to Ultraman in it. Which episode (name/number) was it? Can you give me some detail on what happened in this episode? Thanks. ---Solara

[edit] Issues with Godzilla?

I noticed that some contributors cut out much of the parts that explain Godzilla in them (BTW, these were my contributions).

I don't exactly know why people have issues with my mentioning Godzilla in this Ultraman article. I'm thinking maybe because he doesn't "fit in" the superhero agenda (especially since the original Ultraman is, first and foremost, a science fiction series, not just a superhero show). Maybe I'm telling people what they don't want to hear - the truth.

Then you're going to find that Godzilla will get quite a bit of mention in the Ultraman article, becuase his (and other Toho tokusatsu) influence to the original series (and perhaps the entire Ultra Series) cannot be denied. For several reasons, which I intend to include in the article:

  • He and Ultraman were created by Japan's FX wizard Eiji Tsuburaya (this was already covered in the article).
  • He inspired the many maurauding monsters on the show, just like in Ultra Q. (In fact, like said show, some people in Japan call Ultraman a "giant monster show", which it essentially is!)
  • Like in Ultra Q, he made an appearance on the show (as another monster).
  • He and Ultraman are the two greatest tokusatsu icons in and out of Japan, especially in America. (And besides, how many people in the US even know about Kamen Rider, Japan's other greatest superhero, and not confuse him with Ultraman?)

I am in no way trying to push Godzilla on Ultraman fans. I am a very big fan of both Godzilla and Ultraman (not to mention Eiji Tsuburaya). It cannot hurt to do an analysis of Godzilla's influence on the creation and being of Ultraman (and it's been done many times by Japanese fans also). You could be doing the same thing by comparing this show (as well as Ultra Q and Ultra Seven) to shows by Gerry Anderson, which were also an influence to this show (which is evident, as Eiji was a big fan of his shows).

What do you think?

Ryuuseipro

I'd have to go back through the history to see just how much got cut, but it's pretty obvious that this page is slowly mutating to something beyond a description of the entire genre. I agree that Godzilla is an important influence, especially in the USA, but I'm not sure now how it would fit in. I would suggest omitting the part about Godzilla "making an appearance on the show." --Joe Sewell 16:18, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] More on licensing dispute

I knew this was going to come up sooner or later (since someone finally included it on the article): Sompote claiming that Eiji Tsuburaya based Ultraman's face on pics of Thai Buddhist statues he supposedly showed to him.

This is false. Just like the forged documents. Sompote's only involvement with the Ultraman franchise was his collaboration with Noboru Tsuburaya on two films in 1974 (The Six Ultra Brothers Vs. the Monster Army and Jumborg Ace & Giant). That was it.

Sompote had NOTHING to do with Ultraman's creation. And if he was so serious about the Ultraman franchise, why didn't he deal with Tsuburaya sooner instead of waiting 20 years to do so? He just waited until Noboru Tsuburaya passed away so that the only person who could defend Tsuburaya Productions was out of the way. That is unforgivable. Sompote is a con artist.

Even ProLink Communications, Tsuburaya's official Thai representatives, would never stoop to something so shady.

In fact, in late 2003, Sompote Thianthong, who runs ProLink, addressed Sompote Saengdeungchai for falsely claiming in a newspaper ad that he owns Ultraman Cosmos, which he doesn't even have the rights to (and is not even on his merchandise rights list)! This tells you something about Chaiyo.

For reference: http://www.jetrobkk-ip.com/Monthly_Report/nov03en.pdf

As much as I hate Sompote, there's really no evidence of him not helping Tsuburaya with Ultraman's design. And certainly no evidence of him NOT being a friend or work with Tsuburaya before the creation of Ultraman. There are two camps, the one who took every word from the Tsuburaya, and another (a few minority (mostly Thai, but then again, some Thai don't buy his bull&&**). I, myself, belong right in the middle. I don't find it that impossible for the Ultraman being influenced by Buddha statue, but Sompote's just a greedy little pig who doesn't deserve anything the court granted him. Suredeath 15:05, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Should we move many of the info to Ultra series page

I think that some of the introduction, the ultra phenomenon, and whole legal dispute section should be move to the ultra series page in my opinion. This should be about the first Ultraman, not the the whole series... which we do have an article on.

[edit] Okinawan Background

Should information on the Okinawan ties of Ultraman be tied into this page? Or somewhere else?

[edit] Ultraman monsters

I'm the guy who keeps adding heaping portions of detail on the original Ultraman over the past few months (since about December 2005), and as time permits, I continue to flesh out individual monsters and the episode plots each was a part of. I hope that's okay with the "keeper" of this page; I'm not sure if that person is Joe Sewell, who I see has numerous entries in the discussion section. Bottom line, I do not mind if these entries are eventually incorporated into the Ultraman page instead of remaining separate. I just figured the Ultraman page itself was getting kind of overloaded (and that's partly my fault as well, for adding several entries on Ultraman's powers.) - MattBattison

5/22/06: I realize that someone else here is also going to the trouble of describing some of these monsters. That's great, in terms of cutting down my work and still achieving the objective of being informative about Ultraman monsters. I would just ask that whomever is erasing my descriptions completely, sometimes replacing them (Gomora), sometimes not (Hidora), please consider incorporating what I have written along with any information like the "stats." A detailed description of the plot for Gomora was blown away in favor of a completely different account of it, and many of the details were lost. Where I come from, that's not editing. The two accounts could have been merged to flesh out more details overall. I did the same in some pre-existing descriptions for other Ultraman monsters; where someone else's description was sufficient, I either added to it (Z-ton) or left it completely alone (Baltan). At least the Gomora description is on the mark. My description of Hidora was simply deleted.

I have also noticed "flags" on other entries I have made for monsters (such as Dorako) suggesting that I incorporate the information into the Ultraman page. If the "keeper" of all things Ultraman on Wikipedia wishes to do so, I have no objection. I will not do it myself, partly out of respect to those who constructed the Ultraman page in the first place, and partly out of my newness to the system and etiquette. I wouldn't want to presume how they would like the information (re-)organized, while still presented in its entirety.

I have also received a flag on my Bullton entry to "wikify" the monster description. Again, I'm not a battle-tested veteran of Wikipedia, but I believe I have followed the instructions. My entry may not have all the bells and whistles that the Baltan and Bemular entries have -- I do not own the rights to pictures of any of these monsters -- but it remains functional. By all means, if there's something missing from the structure of this entry, please respond here in specifics, and I will do what I can.

I have read the rules, and parroted existing structure as a primer for learning the system, but if someone wants to contribute pointers or work further on what i have contributed that's fine with me -- hopefully they do so without completely destroying information I have provided. - MattBattison

6/14/06: I think I'm done helping out. Paging through to see what's happened lately, I noticed that descriptions I left for Aboras and Bullton have been linked in a vicious circle back to the Ultraman page, instead of to the information I wrote. I could understand if it linked to better substantiated info, but the current set-up is a disservice to everybody. I have also been asked to document/cite sources my entry for Banila. I watched the video and took notes. That's about as direct a form of documentation as I can provide, but I realize that may not be what Wikipedia expects. Oh well. I guess some badly translated Japanese account of the episode will be cited sometime later, and that will have to suffice. Siyonara. - MattBattison

Have you thought to even try and confront the person doing so? Or, as I would suggest, making a single "Ultra Kaiju" article? -- Majin Gojira 18:29, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
Hi, MattBattison. I noticed the absurd situation in re the Ultramonsters on this page just the other day. Click on any one of them and you are redirected back to this same page. This is clearly wrong. I see now that you had individual articles for each of the monsters. I think this is fine. Or, as Majin Gojira suggests, one Ultra-monster article with some sort of table/description/image (if we dare) on each of them. Either way would work, but the present re-redirecting situation certainly does not work. Most of the redirects were done without justification, I notice one says "not notable." I would question that. And if these monster characters are determined to be not notable, certainly a group "Ultra kaiju" would still be justified. -- Rizzleboffin 18:48, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
I jumped the gun and already started to work on one, though my knowledge is very limited, it's little more than an incomplete list of Ultraman monsters - Majin Gojira 15:21, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

7/31/06: My thanks to Majin Gojira and Rizzleboffin for your points. This is the first time in a long time that I visited to see what's happening. I do not know who destroyed the monster descriptions, but since the damage hasn't continued, I'll try to get back to reconstructing them. If a reasonably good explanation is put up already, I won't quibble on the details. As always, I am completely open to this info being pasted into the Ultra Series or Kaiju pages. - MattBattison


A lot (all?) of the monster links redirect back to the Ultraman page... Not exactly useful! 84.68.159.186 21:36, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

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