Ultraseven (1967) - Ultra Retrospective

In the longest Ultra Retrospective to date, I go through the process of rewatching TsuPro's third entry in the Ultra series (for the fourth time!), wrestling my thoughts into something watchable. It's that one show Space Ghost Coast-to-Coast keeps referencing, it's Ultraseven (ウルトラセブン) time!

(No references to either English dub are made, I'm sorry)

A playlist for the other Ultra Retrospectives

Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
2:09 - Premise
3:20 - Dan the Miracle Man, Ultraseven & The Capsule Trio
8:53 - The Ultra Guard
12:00 - The aliens, special effects, music
14:07 - A rough start (ft. Alien Spell)
19:59 - It gets better from here
26:40 - A stellar final stretch
31:02 - The finale
33:51 - Concluding thoughts
35:23 - Legacy

Sources:

Music used (that isn’t from Ultraseven):
Super Mario World - Cast List
Alien Guts - Ultraseven SNES
Ren & Stimpy Stock Production music (dramatic sting)
Shadow the Hedgehog - “I Am All of Me”

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

[ZaGorudan]

It's come to my attention that I'm releasing this on the birthday of Dan's actor, Koji Moritsugu. Pure coincidence. Happy 81st!

[captainblitzYT]

STORAGE: “We take your poorly used robot kaiju and make them fan favorites.”

[theycallmejojo]

My favorite is part about the finale is the Ultra Guard’s reaction to Dan’s true identity.

They don’t even question it but instead they immediately get on their jets to help out. They don’t even refer to Ultraseven as “Ultraseven” anymore but instead just “Dan”.

Also, the delivery of the line “Lets go, humanity must defend earth by it’s own hands!” along with the music goes hard.

[LeFrancht]

Ultraseven series is literally like a wine, it only gets better the longer you let it grow on you.

[paulforder]

I think Ultraseven was by far, the best of the Ultra Hero series in atmosphere, plot, and social issues.

[KingoftheBashful]

I love how Ultraseven shows both the campy, ridiculous side and more dramatic, introspective side of tokusatsu perfectly.

[rodakscreens]

Regarding the weird transitions, Ultraseven was airing at the same time as Captain Scarlet, a Gerry Anderson series best known for being horrifically violent and the Spectrum Drum transitions. There are some pretty consistent parallels between Anderson and Tsuburaya productions, specifically the presence of super vehicles in Stingray and Thunderbirds leading to the introduction of the SSSP in Ultraman, so it's entirely possible that the tone shift after the first batch of episodes is entirely because Captain Scarlet made its way to Japan at the same time.

Ultraseven is far and away my favorite show in the entire series, and my favorite Ultra full stop. Zero carrying on his legacy and the reappearance of Windom, Sevenger and KING JOE in Ultraman Zett are fantastic elements of the new generation, and Heisei Ultraseven is one of the best followups in the entire series, so it makes me very happy to learn that one of my favorite tokusatsu youtubers loves it the same way I do. ALL HAIL GUTSO SEIJIN!

[CaralisTrevorum]

24:01 Just realised that these transitions are lifted directly from the ones in "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons" - even down to the drumbeat.
Eiji Tsuburaya was known to be a Thunderbirds fan, it wouldn't be surprising if he was a fan of Captain Scarlet, the puppet show Gerry Anderson made straight afterwards.

[ManneSanni]

25:49 “We Alien Guts have never lost to any sort of fight”
Ultraman Mebius & Ultra Brothers Movie:

[nicoleseraphita]

I started the Ultra series with Ultraman 66, but it was Seven that really solidified my love of the series. Super Weapon is such a good episode, and the quote about running a marathon while coughing up blood stuck with me for a long time.

[RileyZilla]

I love how Seven's fighting style is just Shat-fu. Kirk and Seven having a fight would be cool as hell

[misterjersey]

The funniest thing about Dino Tank is he was added to that Ultraman fighting game on GBA as the representative Kaiju of Ultraseven. Not Eleking. Not King Joe. Not even Metron.

[snakes]

Dan: I'm a drifter with no identification nor any scientific or military training, who just so happened to be in the same area as the alien attack and knew exactally what was going on.
Ultra Guard: Welcome to the Ultra Guard

[tokumillennium]

Ultraseven is one heck of the show and It'll be remembered forever

[chongoz]

Ya know with all the brutal finishers in the Showa Era I'm surprised they didn't have the Ultra Brothers as guest characters for Mortal Kombat. They would thrive, especially Ace that man is a menace.

[akarilight]

One of my favorite moments in early Seven was him transforming and breaking out of prison.

It wasn't even super impactful or anything it was just so cool to me as a kid I still remembered it 12 years later as an adult and was one of the reasons I started watching Ultraman again.



Also Zero is cool I love him.

[ShinGojiOfficial]

Fantastic review and this is also a great refresher since I only watched my shout factory boxset of it once. I was bummed about them not including that banned episode too. I'll have to track that down sometime. I also own the orb film with him which was epic. Original Ultraman having the Goji 54 footsteps was such a cool touch too. Looking forward to more of your work

[tfgodz]

The way the booklet skips from episode 11 to 13 was so funny to me. I never felt more gasoline by a piece of paper in my entire life

[copter]

My introduction to the Ultra-series is from my dad recommending Ultraseven because he used to watch it as a kid. So many good memories.

[metalhellspawn]

Rewatching Ultraseven a year or so ago I really came out of it with a new appreciation for what all it accomplished. Still hoping Mill Creek gives us those Heisei specials some day soon.