What Could Have Been / Ultra Series

Ultraman's original appearance: an evil tengu-themed alien named Bemular.

As one of the longest-running pop culture franchises in Japan, the Ultra Series has produced dozens of series, movies, video games and other media. Unsurprisingly, not every concept, whether it be a character design or entire entries, made it past the cutting board. Below are listed a number of unused/incomplete ideas that could have shaped the franchise in a different way.

Ultra Q

• The original draft for the series was called WoO, starring a comical, bug-eyed alien named Woo who befriended a news reporter named Joji Akita, but had to fight monsters and avoid the armed forces who saw him as a threat. The alien's name was recycled for a monster in Ultraman and the concept was revived in 2006 with Bio Planet Woo.
• Ultraman was originally going to be in an Ultra Q episode, where he was going to be an alien villain, instead of a superhero. More specifically, he was to be a bird-like warlord called Bemlar, and when work began on Ultraman, they recycled Bemlar as the first concept for Ultraman.
• Eiji Tsuburaya wanted episodes where monsters from earlier ones would fight each other, but the show ended before he could ever get around to that.
  • Among these concepts were Peter vs. Pagos, Pagos vs Garamon (Kemur would have appeared in either of these episodes aiding the antagonist monster), M1 and the Cicada Man vs. Gorgos and Goro vs. Garamon.
• Jun was originally meant to own a flying car while Dr. Ichinotani was supposed to narrate the beginning and the end of each episode a la Rod Serling. The former was dropped in favor of the character being a pilot while the latter was replaced with a disembodied narrator (Koji Ishizaka) as Tsuburaya felt they were too derivative and ruined audience immersion.
• The ape-like artificial lifeform M1 from "The Underground Super Express Goes West" was originally going to be accompanied by an M2, which would have been an insectoid lifeform instead.
• The Ultraman episode "Oil S.O.S." was originally written for this series, the monster was originally a giant stingray-like creature called Clapton. Ultimately, the Clapton prop was repurposed into Bostang and Clapton was replaced with Pestar.
• Maverick Ultra Series director Akio Jissoji pitched an idea for an episode featuring a Baku-based kaiju for this series, but nothing ultimately came out of it at the time. Years later, Jissoji would revisit his idea in Ultraman Tiga with the episode "Dream" and the monster Bakugon.
• There were plans to air English-language episodes of Ultra Q on American television, but they ultimately never came to be, and the only episode that can be found dubbed is the third episode "The Gift from Space". The rest were feared to be lost for decades until MGM discovered them in their archives. No word on release plans though.

Ultraman (Series)

• Ultraman was originally going to be a bird-like alien monster named Bemular (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 Week Saigo. 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.

Ultraseven

• Was originally supposed to be a more hard sci-fi show similar to Lost in Space called The Ultra Garrison, but someone urged a rewrite due to being too similar to rival show Captain Ultra, and the show was turned into Ultra Eye, where Dan was supposed to transform into Redman, who was also Ultraman Junior. The Capsule Monsters were supposed to be Peguila, Antlar, and Red King, but Tsuburaya wanted to do more with their budget, so the capsule monsters became new monsters. Ultra Eye was reworked into Ultra Seven and the rest is history.
• When Turner Program Services was shown the finished dub, they found it to be subpar, and after failing to sell it to another network or syndication, the episodes were locked away until 1994- when they realized they never got run, they were given to TNT to run as part of their Toons Til Noon and MonsterVision blocks (for the former, the eps were edited to be suitable for kids and families; for the latter, the episodes ran uncut).
• Among the bizarre rejected ideas, producer Masami Sueyasu proposed the series become a Japanese analog to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland combined with The Red Balloon, writer Akio Jissoji proposed a series revolving around a time-traveling family and their everyday lives, Hajime Tsuburaya proposed a new season of Ultraman that basically pandered to the sponsors (think Merchandise-Driven to the Nth degree like today's Kamen Rider), and Eiji proposed a cross between Thunderbirds and Lost in Space.
• The Ultra Garrison proposal would have revolved around a team of astronauts and Robot Buddy "John", who lived in a space station called Mother and were Earth's first line of defense against alien invaders. The concept came off as too derisive, and the executives ordered Tsuburaya to rewrite it.
• In addition to Ultraman Junior, there would be both good and bad monsters from Earth and space respectively, and the good Earth monsters would fight on humanity's side. Ultraman Gaia saw this idea come to fruition.
• In one draft, Dan would have been half-R-alien (possessing ESP), half-human.
• One of Seven's preliminary costume designs looked similar to Ultraman Mebius.
• Most of those designs lacked an Eye Slugger, but did use elaborate headdresses and chestpieces. And in several of them, the red and white parts on Ultraseven's suit would be swapped◊.
• Ultraseven was originally going to blue, but due to the blue-screen matte process, it was changed to red to prevent blend-in.
• The series was originally intended to take place in its own continuity, where the events of Ultra Q and Ultraman never took place. Traces of this can be seen in the final product, as there is no mention whatsoever of Ultraman nor his adventures with the Science Patrol, Seven himself exhibits many differences when compared to other Ultras (though Ultraman Taro and Ultraman Zero, the latter being Seven's son, resemble him more closely.), and his superior looks exactly like him rather than Zoffy. The Heisei Ultraseven series and Ultraseven X ran with this idea.
• Narita originally designed Alien Godola with actual hands, but was forced to include pincers to make them more reminiscent of Alien Baltan. Traces of the idea can be found in how supplementary sources call their pincers Godola Guns, suggesting they're Arm Cannons worn over the alien's actual hands.
• Alien Spell was described as an Insectoid Alien in the script, instead of the controversial design in the finished product.
• Alien Metron's original face was grey instead of red◊.
• Alien Guts was originally meant to have a bulbous exposed brain in order to emphasize his intelligence and potent mental powers, but Eiji Tsuburaya rejected it for being too grotesque. An alternate design gave them a transparent cranium, but was rejected for cost issues. The final design has brain-like wrinkles covering their heads instead.
• Tepeto was originally conceived as a cyborg with rotating parts named Dicrosrazor and had nothing to do with kappas. The original design also had a spinning shaft instead of legs.
• The suckers on Guyros' tentacles were originally meant to be eyeballs. Guyros was also originally meant to be an alien, but was changed to the monster minion of the Nonmalts in the final product.
• One of the more baffling scrapped ideas has King Joe as a Cyborg instead of a robot, complete with an organic face instead of a slit-like visor. Said idea was (thankfully) ditched due to being too close to the Unintentional Uncanny Valley.
• "The Wandering Planet" was initially written as an episode of Ultraman, while Rigger's role was for Pagos. Agira was a last-minute addition, as the role was initially meant for Windam, but Executive Meddling demanded a new monster.
• Miclas was originally meant to be killed in the Alien Guts two-parter rather than Windam.
• Pandon had separate necks in earlier sketches, but they were joined together after the mechanism proved difficult to operate. The separated necks would return in later variations of the monster.
• A capsule monster based on Hachikō existed in early concepts.

Return of Ultraman

• Originally, Eiji Tsuburaya wanted the show to be a revival of the original, with the original Ultraman returning to Earth and Hayata reclaiming his identity as Ultraman, however Hajime scrapped these plans. It made more sense from a merchandising standpoint to create a new hero.
• Telesdon was originally supposed to reappear, but the suit was too deteriorated and Detton was created as a Suspiciously Similar Substitute.
• Black King was intended to be the brother of Red King and would have used the same suit.
• Much of the behind-the-scenes concept art reveals the original designs of the various monsters from the show... and oh boy, do they look different. For starters, the draft designs of two of the series' most iconic monsters, Bemstar hardly having a neck (with it's head fusing together with the belly) and Muruchi's super-deformed head hidden behind absolutely gigantic headfins (giving it the appearance of a Tiny-Headed Behemoth) is a stark contrast to how fans would picture them, given both monsters being iconic Ultramen foes. There's also Alien Messie having breasts (implying that the alien was originally female), Grotes having Extra Eyes, Kodaigon armed with a staff, Twin Tail with a bottle-shaped neck (another iconic monster with a completely baffling first draft), Granadas having an Overly-Long Tongue, Red Killer looking almost like a canine (instead of the dinosaur-looking creature in the final film), an Alien Sasahiler who's an Armless Biped, Mognezun having far longer spikes and a red-eyed cyborg-skeleton-dinosaur-thingy which never made it out of the book, probably because it looks too complicated to be created in live-action form.
• On a lesser note, King Maimai at least looks pretty much the same as its live-action form, save for its adult form having grey skin.

Ultraman Ace

• Ace was originally designed rather androgynously, with feminine features on the facial area and longer "hair" parts, with a gladiator breastplate on the upper torso. However this design was abandoned. However, a more angelic version of Ace features in Ultraman: Another Genesis, and actually stars as a Goddess.
• Muruchi's role in the Episode 7 and 8 two-parter was originally meant for another kaiju from Return of Ultraman, Seagorath.
• The show was originally going to bring all of Tsuburaya Productions heroes into one universe by having all of them work for "the Galactic Federation" but this idea was abandoned. The series' theme song still references this concept by mentioning the idea of a Galactic Federation.
• In the series' first episode, Velokron was originally going to attack Hiroshima, but due to the city still being in a sensitive state to the atomic bombing from World War II, the set was changed to resemble Fukuyama City.
• Many, many, many chojus from the developmental stages looked strikingly different than those depicted in the final product, as seen in the behind-the-scenes sketches from Tsuburaya's concept artbook. Notably Gasegon would have larger and puffier cheeks, Coakes had a single green visor-like Cyclopean eye, Bad Balloon's snout would've been much longer than the version in the show (imagine an elephant's trunk), Fubugirara would've fought Ace using a tree as an Improvised Weapon (this idea would be recycled later on when Ace fights Daidarahoshi), Garan and Alien Fire are skinnier compared to their onscreen versions, and most jarring of all, one of the chojus appearing in the artbook - a kappa-like monster - never made it into the show proper. (Although it can be assumed that the kappa monster was ultimately replaced by Dreamgillas, due to Tsuburaya recycling the Red Jack suit and the battle being in a lake arena, a setting usually associated with kappa.)
• The titular Ultra himself looks pretty... odd in his initial draft◊. It seems like the original design for Ace is a combination of Ultraseven and Ultraman Jack before he gets retooled.

Ultraman Taro

• The series was originally intended to be called Ultraman Jack as a reference to English fairy tales often using that name (Taro is described by Tsuburaya Productions as the "fairy tale" of the franchise), but Taro was chosen as Japanese fairy tales often use that name. Jack was saved for the hero of Return of Ultraman as TsuProhad no official name for the character until 1984.
• Ultraman Taro was supposed to run for 49 episodes, but due to production on Ultraman Leo being behind schedule, it was increased to 53.
• Alien Temperor was originally to be called Alien Breton, and before that he was intended to be Alien Empera, but that alien was saved for the Big Bad of Ultraman Mebius.
• Alien Mefilas' reappearance was originally meant to be the debut of Mushra. Similarly, Eleking's reappearance was originally for a brand new mastodon kaiju called Gokiba (with the episode being called "The Touch of the Full Moon on the Mammoth's Fang!").

Ultraman Leo

• When Tsuburaya Productions cast Kohji Moritsugu as captain of MAC, his character was meant to be a new character named Tetsutaro Kawakami. However, Kohji Moritsugu was concerned viewers would confuse Kawakami with Dan, so the character was changed, which probably explains the complete change of character.

Ultraman 80

• Believe it or not, William Winckler of Winckler Productions proposed making an English-language adaptation of the series in 1987 in the vein of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers or Godzilla: King of the Monsters! (1956), that would have starred Adam West!
• While Ultraman 80, being a Fad Super, had touched on various problems associated with teenagers at the time of the show's release, there was a scripted episode which deals with suicide. Said episode was canned because it's too dark, which is probably a good thing.

Ultra Q The Movie: Legend of the Stars

• One of the Concept Art of Nagira resembles a "chubby Godzilla", rather than the threatening-looking kaiju seen in the film. See for yourself◊.

Ultraman: Towards the Future

• Tohl Narita, who designed the original Ultraman was initially approached to design the suits for this series, and designed a black and gold Ultraman titled "Ultraman Divine Change" as the series' protagonist; however, as Narita required 30% copyright fees for his designs to be used, negotiations fell through and this design was scrapped before Shin Ultraman brought it back as Zoffy's design for the film.
• Apparently, there were plans for a Season 2 that would have featured a number of returning monsters, including a reappearance from Ryugulo and the appearances of several monsters from the Japanese shows, such as the Baltans. However, these were halted by the failure of Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero.
• A movie idea thrown around for a bit would've had Great visiting Japan and doing battle with a super powerful threat, potentially with the original Ultras appearing as well.
• UF-0's episode was originally to star a fully mechanical transforming robot called ROBOM. See concept art here.
• Early on the action sequences in the show were to be performed via rubber puppets, with test footage being done of a fight between Great and Gudis. The idea was passed in favor of traditional suit work due to the restrictions this style ended up presenting. That said, footage from the puppet test wound up being used in the first episode for some brief shots.
• Deganja was originally meant to be a Mix-and-Match Critter made from animals killed by the highway◊.
• Super Gudis was originally meant to be a faceless creature.

Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero

• Magular was supposed to appear in episode 3 alongside Red King, Pigmon, and Chandler to complete the cast of creatures that appeared in episode 8 of Ultraman, but was replaced with a second Red King in the end.
• "Powered" figures of several monsters that appeared in Ultraman, but not in this series, were released, suggesting the intention to adapt more of the original Ultraman's foes. Here's one for Gavadon's two forms◊.

Heisei Ultraseven

• Shoji Nakayama was due to reprise his role as Kaoru Kiriyama, but the actor died the year prior, thus his character had to be written out as Killed Offscreen. The novel EPISODE 0 (a retelling of Episode 6 from 1999 Final Chapter Hexalogy) has Kiriyama included as a retired and senile former captain of Ultra Garrison.

Ultraman Zearth

• Zearth and Alien Benzene were meant to have their suit actors' faces partially exposed, as a Shout-Out to Kamen Norider, whose main protagonist was also played by Noritake Kinashi (Butsukichi Konakai). Traces of this idea can be seen in Zearth's face design, which appears as if wearing a mask with the mouth uncovered.
• There were plans to make a third movie, but were placed on the back burner and subsequently forgotten about while making Ultraman Tiga and Ultraman Dyna: Warriors of the Star of Light. One planned plot point for this movie was the revelation that Zearth was the grandson of Ultraman King.
• Ultraman Shadow was originally meant to be black and silver, but that color scheme was deemed too cool-looking for an Evil Knockoff of Zearth and was changed to the current black and gold.

Ultraman Tiga

• The original idea for Tiga's origin is that he would be born from the Big Bang and was the precursor to the Land of Light Ultras, before finding himself travelling to the present time and blending into society. He was to be known as "Ultraman Tiga, The World's First Ultraman".
• Some details of the GUTS members were changed into production and conceptualization: Captain Megumi Iruma was meant at first to be a stern and very strict captain towards the GUTS members, Mukanata would have been a divorced father who had a daughter. Shinjoh's original name was going to be Kuwada (in fact, Shinjoh's name is a tribute to writer Tetsuo Kinjo) and Rena would've been the daughter of a deceased TPC staff member named Manase.
• Tiga's Protector was intended to be removable and be used just like the Eye Slugger. It's unknown exactly why this idea was dropped.
• Golza was originally going to be named Orgo.
• Episode 23 (the one with the Weaponizers) would have originally had a major revelation that many of the monsters fought by Tiga were creations by a scientist from the ancient civilization he protected. While the idea was dropped in the end, the "ancient scientist" idea was recycled for episode 45 (Gijera) with the character of Nook.
• 4Kids had initially planned to dub the second half of the show in September of 2003, as evidenced by some of the villain videos containing villains such as Irudo and Evil Tiga, a vehicle video of the GUTS Wing EX-J (referred to as the "GUTS Gemini Cruiser") as well a scene from the final battle with Gatanozoa seen in the video describing his "Biotic Sensor" (Color Timer). However, they went back on that decision in favor of the uncut release.

Ultraman Dyna

• Hanejiro was originally going to be named Pamu, but the name had to be changed for copyright reasons.
• There were plans for Gazote to reappear in episode 19, but he was ultimately replaced with Kokakucho when the writers remembered that the Critters had left Earth in episode 28 of Ultraman Tiga.
• The Spheres were originally meant to be the main antagonists of "The Krakov Won't Surface!". While they were first replaced with the Digon, the producers felt having a humanoid race of aliens as the antagonists was too straightforward and made them the servants of Spume instead.
• The Spheres were planned to be wiped out in "The Krakov Won't Surface!", with Alien Chern replacing them as the main antagonists of the series from episode 27 onwards, but the decision to have the Spheres remain as the Big Bad resulted in Alien Chern only appearing within episode 27.

Ultraman Gaia

• Fujimiya and Agul were originally meant to be Put on a Bus with episode 26 "The Final Resolution", but their surprising popularity from the fans allowed them to return in Episode 36 "The Sky of Reunion".
• According to this Tweet by Chiaki Konaka, a Foreign Remake of the series was proposed by Oliver Stone (yes, that Oliver Stone), but nothing ever came out of it.
• One of the Writers, Hasegawa, wanted to introduce a new Ultra after Fujimiya planned departure, but when it was decided to bring Fujimiya back they scrap the idea, there wasn't much laid out before it was scrapped besides the Ultra in question being Catherine Ryan.

Ultraman Neos

• If the cards had been arranged a little differently, this would have been the entry to reintroduce the Ultra Series in the nineties.
• The Zamu-seijin were set up to be the new Baltans for the series and TV Magazine comics, but were rendered more sympathetic in the DTV series.
• An apatosaurus-like monster, Dlen-Geran, appeared in the pilot but was not brought over into the DTV series.
• Also, according to Tsuburaya, the show was originally supposed to be the first with a female captain and Neos' transformation item was to be called the Esplender.
• On that last note, even without the series, it became the first Ultra series to headline two Ultras—an element that would also carry over into Ultraman Gaia.

Ultraman Cosmos

• Arados was originally going to be called Paradox and Tablis would have been Doubles, but copyright conflict led to the changes.

Ultra Q Dark Fantasy

• This series was part of a major project to reboot the Ultra Series into a more mature franchise, which also included Ultraman Nexus and Ultraman: The Next. Due to Nexus being Screwed by the Network though, this ultimately never came to be.

Ultraman Nexus

• Before being Screwed by the Network, the producers had actually planned another 12 episodes centered on Nagi Saijyo. Artbooks also reveal the designs for Dark Lucifer, Dark Zagi's proposed Super Mode born from a fusion of all the Dark Ultras in the series. Instead Nagi's arc is abandoned and she gets taken out by Mitsuhiko Ishibori in half an episode despite much plot buildup touting her as the fourth Deunamist. Zagi meanwhile is taken out the very episode he assumes his true form.
• A movie was intended for the series. However, Nexus' early cancellation led Tsuburaya to modify and recycle the script for the Ultraman Mebius and the Ultra Brothers movie.
• The whole series (along with prequel movie Ultraman: The Next) was intended to be a complete and total remake of Tsuburaya's Ultraman character! For better or for worse, the Ultra Series would have stayed that way if Nexus wasn't Screwed by the Network. The next series saw a return to the traditional aspects of the franchise, and due to how successful it was, the franchise has widely abandoned Nexus.
• Nagi Saijyo's Junis form would have been Junis Orange.
• Concept art exists for Space Beasts likely meant to appear in the Nagi Deunamist arc as mentioned above, featured in art books on the Ultra Series. At least one of these was recycled for a monster in a later series. See here.
• Originally, Nexus would have also included a Time Travel arc where Komon and Nagi will go back in time to reveal who saved Komon when he nearly drowned as a child during Nagi's times as a Deunamist. However, the arc was not being filmed due to the series being cut short.
• Dark Zagi was supposedly a dark form of Ultraman Nexus fueled by Nagi's rage and had to be saved by Komon according to a Japanese wiki article.
• Banpira's episode "Calling" was originally meant to be a two-part episode, but due to excess footage and the series being cut short, it was squashed into a single story. Fortunately, the full 45-minute Director's Cut was eventually released on DVD.
• The final episode is a huge one: it's actually the script of three episodes merged into one.
• The climatic battle with Dark Lucifer would have seen Komon and Nagi both transform into Ultraman Noa as Co-Dunamists.
• There were plans at one point to make a sequel movie to Ultraman: The Next, titled ULTRAMAN 2: Requiem, and two costumes created for the film - however, the film was cancelled due to the poor ratings and subsequent cancellation of Nexus itself. These suits were later reused for Space Fear Demon Z and Ghost Sorcerer Reibatos; at one point in production, the latter was even named Requiem.
• At one point the production team considered making Ultraman Nexus simpler instead of more complex in an attempt to be realistic. In designer Maruyama's own words: "He ended up looking like Pepsi Man, and that was no good, so we went in the opposite direction."

Ultraman Max

• Ultraman Xenon's role in Episode 13 (Zetton) was originally going to be Zoffy, but they decided to make a new Ultra instead.
• Ultraman Max went through several proposed names during development, including Ultraman Phoenix, Ultraman Wing (both in reference to the bird motif incorporated onto his chest armor), and Ultraman Xenon (the last of which was given to his superior).
• Gomora's role in Episode 22 was supposed to be filled by Telesdon, but the monster was switched at the last moment.
• Pagos was supposed to return in Episode 29, but Masahiro Yamada (who wrote Pagos' Ultra Q debut episode) died, so TsuPro decided to retire Pagos out of respect to the late writer and create Geronga instead.
• Yametaranese, the monster that caused extreme lethargy, was meant to return in Episode 31, as well as his alien master, Sasahiler, but due to a lack of budget to create two new suits, the producers simply modified the Grantella suit to instead make an alien villain that causes extreme hyperactivity, Moetaranga.
• The series was planned as a return to Showa continuity and to act as a direct sequel to the original Ultraman with the return of several Science Patrol members. This idea was quickly scrapped because the production felt like it was too much baggage especially with the rushed production.

Ultraman Mebius

• Toriyama was going to be an Obstructive Bureaucrat much like Naval Officer Saijo, but was rewritten to be more sympathetic and comedic after Kenichi Ishii was cast to fit the actor's image.
• Kotaro Higashi was supposed to return in Episodes 29 and 30 (as well as Ultraman Mebius and the Ultra Brothers), but Saburo Shinoda was too busy at the time, hence why Ultraman Taro is the only one of the classic Ultra heroes never seen in his human form in Ultraman Mebius.
• In episode 16, "A Swordsman from Space", Zamusha's original opponent was going to be Alien Terrorist, but he was ultimately removed due to his controversial name, and his role was given to Alien Magma instead.
• Another Dinozaur would have been the Monster of the Week for the second episode, but was scrapped and replaced by Gudon.
• King Kappa was briefly considered as one of the returning monsters in the show, according to scriptwriter Keiichi Hasegawa. Somehow this did not come to pass for reasons unknown.
• The villainous league of aliens known as "Four Heavenly Kings" was originally envisioned to be made of entirely new characters. There are plans to include two original alien villains, including a lone female alien villainess and an alien who bafflingly speaks with an English accent. The latter two are replaced by Alien Mefilas and Yapool.
• Teppei, Konomi, George and Marina were originally going to respectively fuse with Ultraman, Ultraseven, Ultraman Jack and Ultraman Ace in the final battle, but it was scrapped in favour of them fusing with Mebius to gain his Phoenix Brave form. Remnants of this idea can be seen in Mythology Gags such as Konomi putting on her glasses like the Ultra Eye, as well as the GUYS members' focus episodes in the final arc having the Ultra Brother they were going to fuse with play an important role.
• Alien Benzene was originally going to appear in The Movie as a member of the Alien Union, but was scrapped for reasons unknown.

Superior 8 Ultraman Brothers

• The working title of the movie was Ultraman Mebius and the Ultra Brothers 2.
• Ultraman Taro was later meant to be the star at first, making the film a sequel of Ultraman Story. Ultimately this was dropped and Taro only makes a cameo through archive footage of Ultraman Mebius and the Ultra Brothers..
• Originally, the monsters intended for the film were Vakishim, Twin Tail, Astromons, Tyrant, Monsarger, Eleking, Red King, and Gomora. The result would have been a much more complex Giga Chimera (which would have been called Grand Tyrant instead), but the monsters were changed and reduced in number in order to simplify things.
  • After being changed from Grand Tyrant to the final design, Giga Khimaira was going to be called Ultisaur, but Tsuburaya chose to rename it after receiving suggestions to do so from the public. This in turn caused the monster to go unnamed in the film itself due to conflicting issues over its name before it was settled on Giga Khimaira post-production.
• Yapool was originally envisioned as the film's Big Bad. However, since Yapool was already featured in the previous Ultraman movie, Ultraman Mebius and the Ultra Brothers, another (very similar) villain was made in the form of the Black Silhouettes with Super Alien Hiporit serving as the figurehead antagonist. Had Yapool been used, Super Alien Hipporit would've been his Dragon with Tyrant serving as his main monster and the base for Grand Tyrant.
• One of the returning kaijus to be resurrected by Alien Hipporit would've been Black King, but he was ultimately replaced by Pandon, probably because the naming conventions given to the monsters being christened as "King" would've made Black King "King Black King".

Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle

• Eleking's role was originally meant for Gubila.

Ultraman Zero films

• Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends: Ultraman Belial's uncorrupted form was originally going to be an existing Ultraman suit painted entirely black, but was changed to a modified Zearth suit in the final product.
• Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial:
  • Initially there was supposed to be another member of the Ultimate Force Zero, a revamped version of Triple Fighter, an obscure Tsuburaya hero. He had concept art designed but was ultimately cut.
  • Belial was meant to have a third general named Zaular based on the Fireman kaiju, King Zauras as well as the Ultraseven kaiju Giradorus; he was also supposed to fight GlenFire in the same manner as Dark Go Ne fighting Jean-Bot and Iaron fighting Mirror Knight; but was ultimately cut out due to budget and time constraints. He would eventually debut in the pachinko game Ultra Battle Retsuden: Fight Zero! The Strongest Young Warrior as a boss.
• Ultraman Zero Gaiden: Killer the Beatstar: Deathfacer was meant to be part of Beatstar's robot army, but was ultimately cut out when the former's suit was refurbished into Beatstar himself.
• Ultraman Saga:
  • The film's original body was DRASTICALLY different than the film now. Originally it was going to feature not only the same cast of monsters (minus Alien Bat) and Ultras, but also Ultraman Justice, Team EYES, Ultraman King, Ultraman Mebius, AND The Ultimate Force Zero going into battle against Dark Zagi! The climax would've involved Ultraman Legend, Mebius Infinity, and Ultraman Saga (being Zero and Dyna merged together instead) fighting against Dark Lucifer (Dark Zagi's scrapped One-Winged Angel!)
  • The climax of the current form was different as well. Hyper Zetton would've been created by absorbing Chaos Header 0, causing the Ultra Brothers to rescue her by fighting Hyper Zetton. However, due to the massive scale that was needed to shoot the scene, as well as the audience's lack of knowledge about Ultraman Cosmos, the concept was abandoned.
  • The film was to have a different plot, involving a group of scientist survivors fighting against with Alien Bat on Earth. Alien Bat's design in this scenario had him wear a suit and a mask that made him heavily resembled that of Batman. Yes, THAT Batman.
  • Another early idea for the film was to be an epilogue to Dyna's series. This idea was turned down as Takeshi Tsuruno (Shin Asuka's actor) thought that Asuka's wanderings should not be concluded at that point.
  • Additionally, Takkong was going to appear in the film, but was replaced by Gubira instead.

Ultraman (Manga/Anime)

• 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.

Ultraman Ginga

• The original concept of Ultraman Ginga was meant to be a continuation for Ultraman Gaia, taking place in the same universe as Gamu becomes a Badass Teacher and the protagonist is a university student. Additionally, they also tried Follow the Leader to Koichi Sakamoto's Kamen Rider Fourze.
• Because of the series's strong connection with Ultraman Taro, one of Ginga Strium’s early concept design’s sported Taro's horns, in addition to the armor. It was scrapped for clogging up Ginga Strium too much.
• In the middle of Ginga S, Taro was meant to be brainwashed by Exceller.
• The revived version of Dark Lugiel was originally considered as an Evil Knockoff of Ginga Strium.
• There were plans for a Latin American Dub of the series in 2014, which was actually finished and meant to debut on a streaming service, but the service's cancellation put an end to that and left the dub unreleased.
• In the original draft of Ultraman Ginga S The Movie: Showdown! The 10 Ultra Warriors!, the final Ultramen-vs-Eteldummy battle was supposed to have Ultraman Max battle Zetton (which makes sense as Etelgar's Tower summons the worst fear of any intruders, given Max was narrowly beaten to an inch of his life by Zetton in his original show), but Tsuburaya opted for a Max-exclusive kaiju. Their second option is Lagoras Evo, but eventually they settled with refurbishing the old Alien Sran suit since it was in a better condition.

Ultraman X

• Early drafts for the series featured Cyber Eleking and Cyber Bemstar being used by Xio alongside Cyber Gomora to assist Ultraman X against other kaiju, but due to budgetary constraints only Gomora remained in the end.
• Gargorgon was originally supposed to be a member of a species of monsters serving Greeza, but this was changed due to the creators feeling it didn't work.
• Golza was originally meant to be the first monster battled by Ultraman X, but due to budget improvements, Tsuburaya Productions decided to create a totally new monster called Demaaga instead.
• Dorako and Silvergon were supposed to return alongside Antlar and Golza as Zaigorg's minions in The Movie. Silvergon was scrapped entirely and Dorako's aerial combat with Ultraman Tiga was given to Antlar.
• Houlinga's role was originally meant for the Ultraman Max kaiju Cloudos.
• Kemujira was originally going to appear alongside Birdon in the second episode, homaging their debuts together in Ultraman Taro, but was cut out in the end.
• Sayuri was meant to have her own unique form as Ultraman Nexus, but it was scrapped.
• Ultraman X The Movie: Here Comes! Our Ultraman!:
  • Back when plans to have Zaigorg's followers appear, four figures presented: they are Antlar, Dorako, Fire Golza and King Silvergon. Take a guess as to which one gets chosen.
  • Antlar and Fire Golza were supposed to fight their original adversaries, but the director decided to switch their opponents.
  • Related to above, Tiga was planned to fight against Dorako in an aerial combat, but the director switch Dorako's role to Antlar, hence its use of insect wings for flight. This is also because he wanted the crash landing scene to resemble an insect.
  • There are also plans to bring back Evil Tiga, who would've bonded to the self-centered Carlos Kurosaki, but this plan was rejected because its plot would be too similar to his appearance in Ultraman Tiga.

Ultraman Orb

• Some of the original photos left out by Tsuburaya:
  • Zeppandon's original sketch was meant to have Maga-Zetton's colors.
  • Magata no Orochi was meant to be more humanoid but was reduced to Armless Biped so the suit actor can focus more on its biting mechanism.
• The King Demon Beasts were originally meant to share the prefix "King" (e.g. King Basser instead of Maga-Basser), but due to King Pandon already existing and the use of Grand King as one of the King Demon Beasts pushing the prefix into Department of Redundancy Department, associate produce Okamoto Yuzo suggested "Maga-", meaning "calamity", as a replacement.
• Juggler's Demon Form was meant to be more appearing as a ninja.
• Maga-Pandon was meant to appear from volcano.
• The role of Alien Zetton Maddock was originally meant for Alien Bat, with Hyper Zetton Deathscythe being a regular Hyper Zetton morphing from its Gigant form seen in Ultraman Saga.
• Takkong was originally going to be appear in the series as the King Demon Beast of Water, but due to inconveniences surrounding the suit's construction, the producers opted to modify the Zoa Muruchi suit and create Maga-Jappa instead.
• Takana Aoyagi, the actor for Juggler, actually auditioned for the role of Gai, but lost out to Hideo Ishiguro. To his delight, however, Tsuburaya hired him to be Jugglus!
• Reibatos was originally named Requiem, as a reference to the cancelled Ultraman: The Next sequel his suit was originally made for.
• Director Koichi Sakamoto was invited to direct Ultraman Orb: The Origin Saga. Unfortunately scheduling conflicts restricted him from doing so.
  • Crossed with Development Hell: Writer Hirotoshi Kobayashi mentioned that The Origin Saga would have its episode 0, featuring the reason why Juggler and Gai climb on the warrior's top to claim Orb's power. No word ever came out for said prequel's production.

Ultraman Geed

• Geed's Primitive form was originally going to use an entirely different costume. Said costume was later recycled into Belial's Atrocious form.

Ultraman R/B

• Grigio Bone was intended to be white instead of red as a Homage to Seabozu, but difficulties regarding suit maintenance and the result being too similar-looking to Shepardon necessitated a colour change.
• When the brothers executing Triple Origium Ray, the projection of Ultraman Orb was supposed to be at the same size as normal Ultramen instead of being gigantic. The normal-size projection of Orb Origin was teased at the toy catalogue.
• Just as how Asahi was revealed to be the Token Non-Human of the family and an Invented Individual, the original script was that Asahi never existed and Saki Mitsurugi, the show's later Big Bad is supposed to be the Minato brothers' long lost younger sister. Asahi is a last minute addition to the show, believe it or not.

Ultraman Taiga

• "The Flying Saucer is not Coming" was meant to be a direct sequel to "The Boy who Cried Flying Saucer" with the original actors reprising their roles, focusing on Saburo over 50 years after his encounter with Alien Perolynga. However, Saburo's actor passed away before the series started production, and as such the script was altered to its present form.
• In Ultra Galaxy Fight: New Generation Heroes, Director Koichi Sakamoto at first wanted to choose Gai/Orb as the leader of New Generation Heroes since his actor (Hideo Ishiguro) was the oldest of them all. Ultimately he chooses Hikaru/Ginga because of his Stock Shōnen Hero appearance.

Ultraman Z

• A promo that was uploaded to Youtube to build up hype for the show translated Haruki's Catchphrase as "Yep!" instead of "Kay!" for whatever reason.
• Z's Beta Smash transformation had it's mask originally colorless. It was series director Kiyotaka Tiguchi that came up with the idea with the face also being painted red.
• Tsuburaya Productions initially had an entirely different plan for Ultraman Z than what we were shown on the final product. It was rejected by Kiyotaka Taguchi for the above reasons.
• According to Taguchi, had Takaya Aoyagi refused to return as Juggler, then he would have scrap the character's involvement in the series altogether.
• The suit for Ultroid Zero was initially meant to resemble Z, but since the titular character's popularity was yet to be determined, he was changed to Ultraman Zero. Additionally there were plans to modify the suit for Darklops Zero into this, but the production crew took a step further by creating the suit from the ground up.

Ultraman Trigger

• The original plan for the series involved 3 different main Ultras with different hosts each (Kengo, Akito and Ignis) akin to Ultraman R/B and Ultraman Taiga. All three would fuse into Trigger Glitter Eternity (hence the triple Color Timer). In the end only 2 heroic Ultras were used and Trigger Glitter Eternity's trio-motif instead came from taking part of the Dark Giants' power. Junichiro Asaki speculates that it was because the weight of the plot with the original concept would've been too much for 25 episodes.
• Initially only Kengo, Akito, Yuna and Ignis existed as part of the main cast. Tsuburaya higher-ups demanded that a proper attack team was made for the series and thus GUTS-Select and the characters of Captain Tatsumi, Marluru, Himari and Tesshin were all added later into the story, resulting in them being Out of Focus.
• Akito was initially more prominent than he already was in the story, his role in the final product was a bit more reduced with a plotline involving him befriending Darrgon throughout the series also watered down to shorter interactions.
• Trigger Dark was initially only meant to last in his two-parter introduction and would've been killed off for good at the end of it. However, it was decided to keep him around as Ignis' Ultraman form out of belief that his design was too good to be underused.
• Episode 21 supposedly ended with Ignis kidnapping Yuna while showing a sinister smile. The actor had to convince the filming crew to drop the idea, since Ignis by that point had developed a genuine bond with the three main characters. This results with the Lishurian transforming into Trigger Dark before he actually do the deed.

Ultraman Decker

• Initially Neomegas was going to have scythe arms in its non-mutated form, but director Koshi thought the arms were much more fit for a Sphere-Mutant and postponed their appearance until episode 12 where Sphere-Neomegas debuts.
• Sphere-Neomegas getting Spheresaurus' arms wasn't initially in the script, but Koshi also thought they'd fit its design for their spikiness.
• Terraphaser was conceived as being a battleship in the earliest stages of the show's writing, when that was scrapped due to the cost and time it would take to render in CGI the idea was to have it be a Combining Mecha, but due to the complexity of the concept it was eventually simply turned into a one-form, one-piece mecha who simply has a Stance System with its chest cannon as the only leftover of the initial idea. The idea for the battleship was reworked into the GUTS Hawk for the show proper.
• Initially "Agams" was not supposed to exist as a character, and Asakage was meant to remain as a good guy from the start to end. Instead Terraphaser was meant to turn evil due to its AI being hijacked or said AI misunderstanding its purpose and aiding the Sphere as a result. Bandai pushed the idea of a humanoid villain and thus Asakage was turned into the series' central antagonist in rewrites and revealed in the latter half of the show, the AI concept was kept in through both HANE-2/Hanejiro and Terraphaser's own short-lived AI unit.

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