Shark Bytes

A previous poster said that the program jumped when Ultra Man died. He never died; what happened was that Zetton, his enemy in the last installment, employed a weapon against Ultra Man that the latter had not expected. His warning light was damaged as a result, and he lost the ability to tell how much energy he had left. Besides, Ultra Man's father was NOT the "Ultra-Crusader" who inquired, "As your superior, I would like to know why you let that monster get the best of you."

The installment which featured the monster Jirass/Keyra, where the only change in the suit that whoever performed Gojira/Godzilla wore was the inclusion of the rather laughable frill, showed Jirass/Keyra to be so unlike, and such a bad copy of, Gojira/Godzilla that even Ultra Man laughed in scorn. So who said the big guy had no sense of humor?

The problem with Mitsuhiro Ide/Ito was that he was too comedic, too chicken, and too much the nerd; he should have been shown to be a scientist and engineer whose various contributions to the Science Patrol were no less valuable than those of the others. No wonder Masanori/Masanari Nihei became an alcoholic!

Nor to forget that Shin Hayata himself was probably a general's son; Susumu Kurobe definitely looked, in those years, as though he could be.

And finally, there's Ultra Man himself. How many of us wanted to rip off his helmet so that we could see what h3e looked like beneath? Well, when Bin "Satoshi" Furuya appeared in "Ultra Seven" as a somewhat cowardly member of Ultra Squad, we got to see that. (Incidentally, Turner Program Services did a poor job adapting "Ultra Seven" to American television, and the result jumped.)

Why did the Science Patrol, drive Corvairs? Wasn't this a Japanese show? Didn't these guys know about Ralph Naider?

ULTRAMAN ROCKS!!! BEST damned show EVER back when I was a kid, it is literally a valued part of my life! So many sequels to it and hardly any shown here in the States; instead we get all this anime crap! Hopefully, someday, shows like this will be seen on American tv!

Like some other's have said, I never noticed the english dubbing either. Loved this show and hope to find the DVD soon.

This show NEVER jumped the shark. For one it aired before Fonzies jump anyway. It ran for one season then was done. Since, there have been other series such as Ultraman Jack, Ace, and Seven which were all pretty good, but I will say that Ultraman Tiga, that one jumped from the get go.

Loved Ultraman. I used to run around the yard, making a cross with my hands and imagine that crazy ray shooting from the pinky side of my hand. Hiata having that Beta Capsule was the luckiest dude on the planet. I was too young to even notice that the show was foriegn and that the words didn't match the mouths they came from. To the poster that grew up in foster care: hillarious post! I've fought some of those monsters that others can't seem to see.

Ultraman was on every other day with Johnny Socko and his Giant Robot. What a tag team combo. My friends used to watch these 2 shows everyday and argue about who could kick who's ass. Had to go with Ultraman because of the name alone. The "flying up to heaven to get recharged" stuff was kind of hokey, but when you're 9 it's flippin awesome. Does anyone remember the one episode where Hiata sensed danger, reached for the "Beta Capsule" and instead whipped out a spoon? How about that annoying little monster they called Pigman? I will add that Ultrman did tend to wuss out pretty quick and then have to fly away and then come back 10 minutes later to finish the job... Is this show available on DVD anywhere???

The original Ultraman series of 1966-67 is an example of a show that ended with class. They had done all they could with the character within the framework of the show, so they ended the series before it jumped the shark. And I might add that Ultraman was the coolest superhero of all time.

I don't understand how anyone could say the shark was jumped in the first season. I don't understand how anyone can't tell the shark was jumped in between the first season (series) and the second! The first season had intense moments, goofy stuff, fun aliens, frightening aliens, and the jump suits and 60's space style were awesome. This 'science' league had to drive around 60's sedans in order to get to giant monsters....what about jets and helicopters or something more scientific?? Great cheese. Incredible moments- the monsters that kids draw and come to life, the millionaire who shanghais the space rock that can turn into anything (thus a monster), the laughing alien with the claws, that tiny monster that gets stepped on and dies. As a kid we all ran around with spoons and held them aloft like Hyata did in that one goofy moment instead of his capsule. I found them on video for rent in LA a while back and taped them all. Still fun after all these years. When the second season/series was made they jumped the shark and bit it so bad. The remaining series are sad- bad characters, bad monsters, sad writing, and no where near as fun or wild as the original series. One of the new Ultramans even had some giant cod piece and would show off his ultragenitalia for the ladies below. Sick, man, SICK!

THE #1 kids show for me growing up in the 70's. For about 10 years, I could have told you the plot, monsters name, and how Ultraman defeated it, of every single episode. True, the last show where Ultraman died and his father asked "as your superior, I would like to know why you let that monster get the best of you" was close to a shark moment, but it is still haunting nonetheless. For comic relief, was there anyone better than Eto of the Science Patrol? Clearly, he was to Japanese TV what Jerry Lewis was to France's entertainment scene. Or what about Hiroshi, who always had an "I'm having a hard time taking a crap" grimace on his face when shooting some sort of ineffective laser cannon at a monster?

Hell when didn't it? A man in a silver & red spandex jumpsuit fighting rubbery monsters with painted on eyes! To be more specific however, UltraFarce completely JTS when they injected Godzilla in a pi** poor disguise into a couple of episodes and called him Gomora & something else. What a slap in the face to a cinematic icon Like Godzilla! UltraFarce totally went belly up however, when they injected that human size, red-plankton looking creature (whose name escapes me)to help the Science Patrol-yeech! The only Japanese program of this nature more insipid than UltraMan was "Zone Fighter" a show which utilized many of the great Toho monsters (including Godzilla) as mere kiddie fodder in a very demeaning & pointless way.

Ultraman? Love him! A few shark-jumping incidents didn't even affect his comeback in 1996. Love 'em all (except Sebun Joushi). A big Shoowatch for big-red-and-silver!

I love Ultraman, from the original, to UltraSeven up to the latest Ultraman Cosmos, I just can't get enough Ultra. Yes, I know the original series was rather cheesy, but it was the grandfather of an entire genre (minus a few shows that came before it of the hero genre) the giant hero fighting monsters! The grandaddy of Power Rangers, Samurai Cyber Squad and other such American bastardizations of sentai and tokusatsu TV. Plus, it was created by the pioneer of Japense special effect, Eiji Tsuburaya, the same man who brought us Godzilla. What else can one ask for?

When I was teen I lived in a foster home. We kids hid "foster Daddy's" whisky until he relented and bought a TV that got UHF so we could watch Ultraman. My "brothers" and I agreed on only three things: 1) Ultraman kicked a** 2)Carpet cleaning solvent provided a longer lasting buzz than airplane model glue 3) Pat Boone's "Twixt Twelve and Twenty" was the funniest book ever written. For the uninitiated, Ultraman was actually this dude named Hiata. He was a young guy with a really good job. He worked for the Science Federation. Whenever a monster threatened Tokyo( this was commonplace in the 1960's) he would use the Beta capsule and become Ultraman. Following his lead I took a lot of capsules and started fighting monsters only I could see.

This show never jumped the shark! Ultraman is the greatest after school show of all friggin time! Jeff, where's my 3 bucks you bastard! Ultraman was on Mondays!!!