Accidentally Correct Zoology: Geronimon, a dinosaurian monster with feathering was a stylistic choice to replicate the look of a Native American chieftain. Many decades later it became common knowledge that several types of dinosaurs had feathering.
Actor Allusion: Akihiko Hirata (Dr. Serizawa from the original Godzilla) plays another brilliant scientist who helps the heroes against kaiju, the recurring Dr. Iwamoto.
Bad Export for You: There have only been three official releases of the English dub, all of them are lacking in some way.
First there was a VHS release of the first four episodes by Expressions in Animation, a well-received release with a bunch of interviews by various people involved with the original show and dub, unfortunately, Expressions did not release any of the other episodes.
The next and most infamous Ultraman DVD release was done by BCI eclipse who put out the full English dub. Unfortunately because of the legal dispute that we are not going to get into, BCI eclipse did not have access to the original footage or audio of the dub. It seems all but confirmed the released used footage from an old Japanese DVD release combined with a recording of the dub of the aforementioned Expressions in Animation first four episodes and the rest of the dubbed audio coming from actual bootleg VHS tapes leaving the release to have pretty bad audio. Also, BCI weirdly also left the parts of the episodes that weren’t originally dubbed in the dubbed episodes,note Japanese episodes are usually longer than American episodes because American TV has more commercials so they had to edit before airing so when you watch the dub for about a minute per episode everyone would be speaking Japanese and then they would go right back to English. In short, the BCI eclipse release was a mess.
And last the Mill Creek release. The first issue of the original Ultraman only came with the Japanese audio but the second Blu-ray, “Birth of Ultraman” will include some dubbed episodes. Sadly only a handful of dubbed episodes.
Creator Backlash: Ultraman's designer, Tohl Narita, expressed dislike at the addition of the Color Timer on Ultraman's chest, because he felt that it looked tacked-on (his original design never incorporated one; the Color timer was a last-minute addition for the sake of giving Ultraman a weakness). The idea of Ultraseven's Head Lamp acting as a warning light was his attempt to fix this.
He was reluctant to open the eyeholes under Ultraman's eyes, but was forced to do so to ensure the suit actor's visibility. Again, he would fix this problem by incorporating the eyeholes as Ultraseven's pupils.
Bin Furuya, Ultraman's suit actor, has expressed reluctance at even pretending to hurt Jamila.
Creator's Favorite: Susumu Kurobe has listed his favourite monsters to be Pigmon and Woo.
Creator's Pest: Ironically, despite them being the original Breakout Villain of the franchise, Tohl Narita hated the Alien Baltan, largely due to them only being the result of the production staff wanting to recycle the Cicada Man suit.
Hydra's design was based on the original conceptualization of Ultraman as a bird-like creature named Bemlar (whose name was given to the very first Monster of the Week in the show).
Woo's name comes from an early Ultra Series prototype of the same name - one that would later be revisited by Tsuburaya Productions decades later as Bio Planet WoO.
First Appearance: Zoffy made his Ultra Series debut in the last episode.
The roar of Varan was used for Neronga, the giant Ragon, Chandler, Magular, and Aboras.
Mothra's cry was used for Pestar and Dodongo.
Toho's version of King Kong was used for Woo, Gabora, Gigass, Skydon, and Zaragas, and mixed with Varan's roar for Chandler.
Gaira was mixed with Godzilla's into Red King and with an elephant's into Gomora.
Godzilla's was played in reverse for Bemular and modified for Jirass.
Rodan's was sped up to create Antlar's screech, while Anguirus' howl became that of Banila.
Ebirah was used for Dorako.
Alien Baltan's iconic Evil Laugh was borrowed from Matango while Bullton's throbbing was from Dogora.
In the reverse, Kemular was used for Hedorah's flying and land forms while Keronia was modified into Titanosaurus.
Non-Toho examples: Gamera was Zambolar, Gyango, and Telesdon (pitched and reversed for the latter two), Barugon was Gubila, and Ultra Q's Kemur-Man and Mongler were Zetton and Geronimon respectively.
Inspiration for the Work: Bin Furuya, Ultraman's suit actor, based Ultraman's hunched-over fighting stance on Jim's similar stance during the knife fight scene in Rebel Without a Cause. Since Furuya is rather tall compared to the other suit actors, the stance has the additional benefit of keeping him in-frame while filming.
Off-the-Shelf FX: Bullton's various antennae which it uses to cause four-dimensional phenomena are egg whisks used without modification.
The Other Marty: Ide was originally going to be played by singer and comedian Susumu Isikawa, but due to a contractual dispute, he was replaced with Masanari Nihei at the last minute.
Playing Against Type: Susumu Kurobe actually played bad guys more, at that point in his career. (He's joked in interviews that he just happened to be in line for roles when they were casting for Hayata.)
Haruo Nakajima appears outside his usual monster suits twice in the show. First as a comical working-class father in episode 25, and then as a trigger-happy police officer in episode 33.
The iconic V-TOL/Beetle is a modified prop from the Toho disaster movie Gorath.
The set for Barraj/Vallarge was reused from the Toshiro Mifune movie The Adventure of Taklamakan.
A few monster suits come from Godzilla films since Eiji Tsuburaya owned the suits, not Toho. Apparently there were considerable difficulties in getting new monster costumes. Later costumes were, in a number of cases, simply recycled from earlier ones.
Bemular was recycled into Gyango.
Alien Baltan was made from the Cicada Man in Ultra Q. Several sources have expanded on this, saying that the Baltans are indeed related to the Cicada People.
Baragon's suit was famously remade into Neronga, Magular, and Gabora.
Gesura was reused from the giant lizard Peter in Ultra Q with added fins from the Ragon suit.
Red King's suit was made into Aboras and then back into Red King for his reappearance.
Chandler was a loosely disguised Peguila (the only difference is Chandler has bat-like ears) while friendly, little Pigmon was giant, malevolent Garamon (both from Ultra Q). To boot, Tohl Narita acknowledged that it was pretty much a loose modification and had no concept art beforehand.
Godzilla was blatantly used for Jirass. More specifically, the body of the Invasion of Astro-Monster suit was combined with the head of the Mothra vs. Godzilla suit (the body had been turned into Gomess) and given a few adjustments like a frill (that gets ripped off in the fight). Not only that, but Jirass' roar was merely Godzilla's sped-up, and Godzilla suit actor at the time (Haruo Nakijima) portrayed the character, likely because the suit had been tailored to fit him specifically when Astro Monster was made. This was parodied in an episode of Sgt. Frog, in which a Monster of the Week called Capras is called out by Fuyuki Hinata as a "chupacabra with a frill".
Gavadon's first form was was remade into Gubila and the second form became Zambolar. And in a different sense, the second form's suit was based on a rejected concept for Dodongo.
Alien Zarab was made from Ragon. Likewise, Ragon's appearance in Ultraman was simply the Ultra Q suit (with its breasts removed...) Also Zarab's "Fake Ultraman" form was created from the Ultraman suit used in the first 13 episodes.
Hydra was made into Gigass.
Gomora's suit was made into Zaragas.
Alien Zetton was made from the Kemur-Man suit with the face turned sideways. Kemur's cameo in Episode 33 was the original suit's head with a new body.
In a few of the episodes, vehicles like the A-Cycle Light Ray, and the Type 66 Maser Tank appeared.
Short-Lived, Big Impact: It's hard to believe that a show as popular and influential as Ultraman only ran for 39 episodes from 1966 to 1967. So hard to believe that many people wrongly assume the rest of the Ultra Series to be the same as Ultraman.
Temporary Substitute: Masao Nakasone was meant to voice all of Ultraman's speaking lines, but because Nakasone was late to the studio due to traffic, editing staff Hisashi Kondo voiced Ultraman's lines from Episode 1 in his place. As Kondo was not a voice actor by trade, his lack of acting experience gave Ultraman a Creepy Monotone; nonetheless, his performance was well-liked enough that he voiced Ultraman again in the finale.
Throw It In!: Whilst filming Jamila's fight scene, the suit's electronics malfunctioned during the fight and the eyes stopped glowing, but Akio Jissoji kept it in as he felt it added to the emotional impact of the scene.
The budget was a major problem and it didn’t help TBS demanded the show the be in color which only increased the cost of the production. Because of this the production had to cut a lot of corners, fight scenes needed to be cut down and some monster concepts were abandoned. This is also the reason many suits were reused from other productions most famously the monster Jirass, which used the Godzilla suit. However, when the first episode got 34% of all of Japan watching, the budget was increased helping the production immensely.
The production was always behind schedule because the team was noticeably smaller than most other TV productions at the time and the effects took a lot of time to finish. The show wasn’t even finished when it was set to air which forced the production to make a really cheap TV special to buy the crew more time. The special itself was considered an embarrassment by the production staff. The writer, Akio Jissoji asked to go by pseudonym.
The writers were conflicted about what the tone of the series would be. Some wanted the series to be completely serious, while others wanted the series to be a light-hearted comical romp. The Skydon episode was the most contentious between the writers, that got quite heated. There are even rumors that a fistfight erupted over the episode.
Unfinished Episode: The executives wanted Ultraman to run for 52 episodes, but Eiji Tsuburaya insisted 39 as the fast-paced production schedules were a burden for his crew. Nevertheless, unused scripts for some of the incomplete 13 episodes exist like "Aurora Line Freeze", which featured Peguila as the Monster of the Week, as well as "The Wandering Planet", which was adapted into the 32nd episode of Ultraseven.
A feature-length film entitled Operation Giant was also planned, and the movie would have featured the Baltans teaming up with an evil human scientist, a robot named Napoleon who helps Science Patrol battle the aliens, a new monster called Morugo, and Ultraman gaining a weapon called the Ultra Sword to save the day.
Ultraman was originally going to be a bird-like alien monster named Bemlar (an unused villain from Ultra Q). Due to the fear that children wouldn't know who to cheer for, they turned Ultraman into a more humanoid alien. The name for the bird-man was given to Ultraman's first enemy while it's design was later used for Hydra, and Nikkatsu's Gappa the Triphibian Monster. See here.◊
Hayata was originally named Sakomizu and Captain Muramatsu would have been the only one who knew about his Secret Identity, with Science Patrol being a top-secret agency disguised as a team of journalists.
The show was originally also envisioned as Redman with Red King as the king of all monsters. Red King's name stuck around while the hero's name was reused for a different series.
Ultraman's mouth was intended to be able to move, but the result looked better on paper than it did on screen. The slightly Off-Model design for Ultraman in the first few episodes can be attributed to this. This idea for a moving mouth also meant Ultraman was to have Breath Weapons.
Many monsters differed greatly from their final design — Pestar was originally to be a two-headed monster, Gavadon was a colorful moose-walrus creature in the script, Dorako was envisioned as an insectoid monster with whip arms, Dada was originally meant to have three faces all at once, and Zaragas was written in the script as a lumpy, eyeless monster able to change shape.
Alien Zarab is originally a Tiny-Headed Behemoth after he transforms. A tiny head on a large body like so would look very unnatural, thus the changing of his head's size to match the final product.
Kemular was originally supposed to be modified from the Gamakujira suit, with the shells on its back covering its upper face when closed to disguise it as a completely new suit. It was also originally meant to have a split jaw, and its weak point was in its mouth instead of on its back; remnants of these ideas can be seen in the seam line running through the suit's lower jaw and how a light flashes inside its mouth before it breathes poisonous gas.
Perhaps the most radical is Gesura, who was initially going to be a mutant bee larva◊ from a species that pollinated cacao beans. Concept art by designer Tohl Narita shows this version would have been created using a modified Mothra larva puppet. This has caused supplementary material to mix up its species, with some sources listing Gesura as an insect, others as an amphibian and yet others as a reptile.
In "The Small Hero", the monsters, Geronimon was supposed to revive were to be Gomora and Red King. However, the suits were not available (Red King was too deteriorated and Gomora had just been modified into Zaragas), so Telesdon and Dorako were chosen. Amusingly, the English dub still refers the revived monsters as Gomora and Red King.
"Demons Rise Again" was originally titled "Emissary from the Ancient Century" and would have featured Aboras as the sole kaiju, with Aboras being a monster minion for the titular emissary, who would normally store it in a liquefied state inside a small bottle.
"The Dreaded Comet Tsuiphon" was originally going to have the Rock Monster Gorgos from Ultra Q instead of Red King, while Gabora's role in "Operation Lightning Speed" was meant for Pagos.
"The Forbidden Words" was originally envisioned as the ultimate alien episode in which Mefilas, Zarab, Baltan, Dada, and Kemur team-up to conquer Earth and use the Mammoth Flower Juran. Hoshino was also intended to be the boy that Mefilas would attempt to persuade, but Satoru was created as Hoshino's actor had broken his leg on a ski trip (hence his disappearance after Episode 24).
The final episode was originally going to have Zoffy kill Zetton after Ultraman's defeat (which would have been Zetton smashing Ultraman's Color Timer to pieces).
An earlier draft had Zetton as simply a side monster that Ultraman would kill quickly as a warm-up to the real Monster of the WeekSaigo. However, the production team had realized that Zetton's design was simply too good to waste, so Saigo was demoted to a side monster to appear alongside Kiyla. This still lingers in Zetton's title "Space Dinosaur", which was intended for Saigo, who got "Sand Pit Monster" instead.
Concept art exists for several kaiju that were planned for the show but ultimately scrapped, including a sponge/jellyfish-like creature called Wooeton, a bat-like kaiju named Goldar worshiped by a human cult, a cyborg sauropod kaiju named Tangilar, and a living shipwreck monster named Yamaton. Most of these creatures were eventually adapted into a manga authored by the late Daiji Kazumine.
Working Title: Bemlar: Scientific Investigation Agency, and then later Redman.
Approval of God: Hideo Ishiguro (Ultraman Orb protagonist Gai Kurenai) is a big fan of the manga and has even asked for the mangaka's autographs. Shimizu and Shimoguch had been nothing but ecstatic about this. Additionally, the series has been approved by Susumu Kurobe (Series/Ultraman protagonist Shin Hayata), Hiroko Sakurai (Series/Ultraman heroine Akiko Fuji and their VA in the motion comic), Takaya Aoyagi (Ultraman Orb antagonist Jugglus Juggler who also hosts a monthly column on their website and is usually one of the main figures involved in official events involving the ULTRAMAN FRS Plamodel line by Bandai such as being a judge for the Plamodel contest or holding a livestream in commemoration for Volume 2), Tatsuomi Hamada (Ultraman Geed protagonist Riku Asakura and overall otaku who, like Takaya Aoyagi, is involved in official events surrounding the ULTRAMAN FRS Plamodel line). Most famously, the manga has seen recognition from Hideo Kojima!
With the exception listed below, all characters from previous entries in the Ultra Series are voiced in the motion comic by somebody other than their original actor.
Likewise, most of the cast from the motion comic were replaced for the anime.
The same goes in the Latin American Spanish dub, in a meta-sense, and also franchise-wise: Unlike with the original dub of the first Ultraman series, which was dubbed in Mexico, the anime was dubbed in Colombia. It should be noted this is the first original Netflix anime work dubbed in that country (excluding Doki Doki Pretty Cure, which, while also dubbed in Colombia, Netflix had no word on the handling of the dub, as it was done by request of Saban, the previous licensor of the franchise). Also being the series dubbed in a South American country is quite normal in the whole franchise, as many of the shows of the Ultra Series were dubbed in almost all South American countries (and Mexico) with working voice acting industries, with the sole exception of Peru.
Promoted Fanboy: Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguch have been quite vocal in the bonus chapters about how honored they are to have been chosen by Tsuburaya to produce the manga.
Hiroko Sakurai reprises her role as Akiko Fuji from the original Ultraman TV series in the manga's motion comic version.
In the transition from the motion comic to the anime, Ryōhei Kimura, Megumi Han, and Akio Nojima kept their roles as Shinjiro, Seiji, and Yapool respectively.
Eiichi Shimizu admitted that he wanted to keep Taro in his naked aflame look instead of giving him Powered Armor like the other Ultras but pressure from Tomohiro Shimoguch, his bosses at Tsubaraya, and others made him relent. Shimizu later said that when he visualized Taro being masked, he said that maybe they had a point.
Tatsuhisa Suzuki was originally announced as the voice of Taro for the anime's 2nd season, but Tomoaki Maeno ended up getting the role due to Suzuki's hiatus at the time.
Working Title: The manga was originally advertised with the title "Ultraman Begins".
of the series in the Shogaku Ninensei magazine.
