Ultraman All But Gone?

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Retconductor
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Ultraman All But Gone?

Post by Retconductor »

I remember seeing the original English dubs of Ultraman and Ultraseven as a kid, usually on random channels, and I never got to see all of them. Then the US series came out, and all the toys and the infamous video game for the SNES. Then, nothing. Nothing I've been aware of anyway. I guess it just wasn't that popular here in the US or something, but I've been trying to find all of the Ultraman series, and have only found the original on DVD on Amazon. It was amazingly cheap, being only around $7 plus shipping. However, nothing else is available except for some sort of rare box set of Ultraseven that is going for around $300 to $700, which is ridiculous.

I read something about a long legal battle over the rights to Ultraman in Japan and Thailand. It seems to me that it would be in their best interest to release these shows on DVD in other countries, with either subtitles or dubs, or both. However, I can't find any or any indication that they ever will. So I'm wondering why and what happened to the Ultraman franchise exactly. I've seen what TV-Nihon has as far as subs, which are all great, and I've seen clips on Youtube of some of the other series, but that's it. I know that some of these series have been licensed, so they can't be legally subbed and made available for download, but if they have the license, they should really do something with it. If all of the Ultraman series were made available on DVD, subbed or dubbed in English, at a reasonable price, I'd be more than happy to support their release and buy them. Otherwise, I have no idea how to find and watch them, but I want to. Everything from the original to now, I really want to see.

So, if anyone knows why they haven't been released, knows if they will ever be released, or if I can get them somewhere, please let me know. Thanks in advance!
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Re: Ultraman All But Gone?

Post by takenoko »

I don't really pay attention to the Ultraman franchise, but didn't they release a movie recently? When you say they're gone, are you talking about interest in the series from a Western perspective? From a Japanese one?

It seems like it's around as much as it ever was. I think it's just living off spinoff TV series and movies.
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Re: Ultraman All But Gone?

Post by Retconductor »

Yeah, its going strong as ever in Japan. I really enjoy the recent Ultraman stuff they've made. I'm just wondering why it won't get brought over to the states or other parts of the world for everyone to enjoy. That or, if it is, when and how?
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Re: Ultraman All But Gone?

Post by Lunagel »

My guess would be due to the shitty dub done in the late 90s. Let's face it, Masked Rider killed KR abroad until Dragon Knight, and Ultraman wasn't treated much nicer. Sentai got a bit of a pass with PR but it's still got a kind of a stigma from that.
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Re: Ultraman All But Gone?

Post by Retconductor »

Yeah, that's true. But at least with PR you still see it here in some form, be it good or bad. I think they could make a lot of money if they were to release the untouched sentai footage with English and other language subtitles. People would buy it.

I know that I've enjoyed a lot of the fan-subbed sentai and Ultraman shows, but doing a search for any of the early Ultraman stuff, even just subbed, results in nothing. Nothing that hasn't been taken down anyway, for one reason or another.
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Re: Ultraman All But Gone?

Post by Lunagel »

I would argue that while many people would buy english subtitled SS or KR, the toku fanbase is much smaller than the anime fanbase as a whole, so it's much more profitable to subtitle and license almost any random anime rather than any random toku series. Most likely series to be licensed would definitely be Zyuranger for nostalgia's sake, but I think most people who watched MMPR would probably not enjoy Zyu. Same footage but incredibly different feeling from the two shows.
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Re: Ultraman All But Gone?

Post by Retconductor »

Oh yes, I've been watching Zyu and have read about how different it is. Its actually a lot more interesting. The video quality needs to be touched up, but other than that it's great.

The difference here is that we were exposed to Ultraman in a more true form, since all of the footage was the original Japanese footage. So we're already used to how it looks, sounds, and feels as a show. It was popular here and people still remember it. I imagine they still would be interested in seeing it and the things they never got to see. I know I am. I really want to see these classic battles and episodes I've heard about of Ultraseven, Ultraman Jack, Ace, Taro, and all the others.

EDIT: Well, would you look at that. I took another look at Amazon.com and it seems there will be a DVD set of Ultra Seven released in December.

http://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Seven-The-C ... d_cp_mov_1

Well, that's one down.
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