(US release)
Review by Spencer Levitt
The long running Ultraman series has been a hit in Japan, but America hasn�t seen much of the red and silver giant. I have watched a lot of Ultraman shows, including Ultraman, Jack, Ace, Taro, Jonias, Tiga, Dyna, Gaia, Cosmos, Nexus, Max, and Mebius. Although I have a lot of good quality Ultraman DVDs, sadly, all of my discs, with the exceptions of Tiga, Dyna, and Gaia, are bootlegs. And my Ultraman series discs have mediocre quality, although still being better than the usual bootleg. Then, this disc came along. The very first official R1 Ultraman disc in America. This disc, though, is only available thanks to the evil company Chaiyo, so if you are a hardcore Ultraman fan that wishes for the series to stay healthy, I don�t recommend buying this. For those who have no idea who Chaiyo is, I will be putting up an article about Chaiyo soon.
Don�t get me wrong, I want the series to stay up and running, but my discs for the original series are in such poor quality, I can�t help myself. I�m desperate, and I need the best quality disc I can get, and I can�t afford the amazing R2 Discs. Anyway, lets get on with the review.
Video Quality: *****/*****
Like I said, I bought the disc for hopes of better video quality, and that is exactly what I got. BCI has done a wonderful job with this disc- the image is always very sharp, the colors are perfectly fine, and no speckles, grains, or hairs in sight. Although it does not rival the R2 Digital Ultra Series discs, they�re the best quality we could expect to get here. The only problem with the video quality is that some episodes prints are sharper than others, but this doesn�t cause much of a problem. The print is also vivid and contains seemingly no transfer problems. The aspect ratio is the show�s original ratio of 4X3 in full screen, meaning you don�t miss anything.
Audio Quality: ***/*****
There are two options for Audio: The original English dub or the original Japanese dialogue with English subtitles. The English dub isn�t very good- occasionally, but not very often, the voices will sound a little scratchy, but nothing too irritating. The big problem with the English dub is that in one episode, some parts of the dialogue are MISSING. But, it won�t detract from the experience much, as the missing dialogue only lasts for a few seconds. Don�t be surprised, either- most of the bootlegs don�t have that piece of dialogue either. The Japanese dialogue is far superior to the English- while playing the Japanese dialogue, you also get the original Japanese, uncut version of each episode. The Japanese dialogue has no errors in it- its perfectly fine to listen to. The problem? The subtitles are occasionally wrong, with one sentence getting one or two words incorrect. But, this doesn�t happen very often, like the missing English dub.
Special Features: ****/*****
The special features here are definitely the best you�ll find for the original Ultraman. First off, we have an interview with Peter Fernandez, Corrine Orr, and the late Earl Hammond- the trio that did the English dub for Ultraman. They discuss what it was like doing the voices, and they�re opinions on the show. The interview is very informative. However, the interview was made awhile ago seeing that Hammond passed away in 2002. The interview was also made with very poor technology, but it does not detract much and the interview is still a great find. Did I mention that this was the same team that voiced Speed Racer? Anyway, next up is the Kaiju Encyclopedia, which is a collection of bios for all of the Ultraman kaiju on this DVD. It is, like the interview, very informative, and it also tells you a little more about some of your favorite kaiju. Next up is the US opening credit sequence for Ultraman- It�s not a very big or important extra feature, but it is nice to hear the English song. And last but not least is the 8 page booklet about how the series was created. It gives a lot of good information about how the series was created, who did this, who did that, etc.
Overall: *****/*****
The Audio quality is lacking, and that is the only real downfall of this disc. The video quality, although not coming close to the R2 discs, is still pretty much perfect, and the special features are very nice as well. This disc contains episodes 1 � 20 of the original Ultraman show, and must I say that BCI has started there Ultraman DVD series with a bang. I heard that BCI wants to release all of the classic Ultraman TV shows (Meaning Ultraman, Ultra Seven, Return of Ultraman AKA Ultraman Jack, Ultraman Ace, and Ultraman Taro.) on DVD, and I say go for it. With a DVD this good, I can�t wait to see how good the others are. I recommend picking up a copy of this if you are dying to see Ultraman, or want a good quality copy of the series. Be on the look out for volume 2!