Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero could have been a game-changer in the Ultraman franchise. The first (and so far, only) live-action Ultraman series to be filmed in the United States, and only the second to feature a cast of English-speaking actors, the show could have opened up the world of Ultraman to the lucrative American market that has long dismissed this world famous hero due to sometimes cheesy and irreverent dubbing.
The Ultimate Hero has all the standard characteristics that make a good Ultraman show. A titanic alien hero bonds with a human partner who works for a scientific investigative team with high tech vehicles and weapons. The team regularly encounters giant monsters, alien invaders and their unstoppable superweapons. When the team battles something they cannot defeat, Ultraman's human avatar transforms into the giant hero and evens the odds. Besides his battle prowess, Ultraman also has an arsenal of energy-based weapons for monster-slaying. But he's also solar-powered, which limits his ability to operate on Earth. His limit is marked by a warning light, usually on his chest, that creates suspense by telling the audience he's running out of time.
The English-speaking cast is adequate to the task of handling the outrageous story material, with two exceptions. Rob Roy Fitzgerald plays his hot-shot sharpshooter character a little too broadly, making him more obnoxious that gung-ho. And Kane Kosugi, who plays Ultraman's alter ego, is kind of a blank slate, rarely showing much emotion beyond some occasional lip-biting anxiety. That this is intended as a children's series (despite some occasionally disturbing violence) is apparent from the one-dimensionality and broad performances of the guest cast.
One would think that an Ultraman series made with American production values would look great, but this show had a low budget and it often shows. The model works and miniatures are about standard for a Japanese Ultraman series but should have looked much better. Ultraman's monster fights are uninspired (more on that later), and the practical effects are about one short level above a typical Sid & Marty Krofft production.
There are some good things about the series. The stories are solid and varied, even if the acting and dialogue is occasionally over-the-top. There is genuine menace to the monsters, who often kill guest characters on-camera. And the monsters - mostly re-designed from the original Ultraman series - look spectacular: colorful, intricately detailed and heavily textured. Sadly, that's a double edged sword. Reportedly, the monster costumes' complexity made them fragile and easily damaged, as well as eating up a substantial part of the show's limited budget, which results in suit actors playing way too safe during the fight scenes. The monsters - and Ultraman, sadly - move with ponderous slowness, shoving and swinging blindly at each other instead of grappling and throwing.
The Ultraman franchise goes far beyond the simplistic "guy in silver unitard beats up stuntmen in rubber suits" rap that has been used to denigrate the franchise for over 50 years. It's a fully-realized and complex multiverse that drew legions of fans from around the world decades before the Marvel Cinematic was a glimmer in Kevin Feige's eye. With the 35th Ultraman series due to debut in Japan in July 2022, it's sad to think of how far it could have reached, and what sights we could have seen, had the first live-action American effort not failed.
