Ultraman Leo (ウルゴラマンレオ)
1974-1975
51 episodes
Tsuburaya Productions
Short Summery: Coming to Earth after his home planet was destroyed by the evil Magma-Seijin, Ultraman Leo aka Gen Ohtori teams up with MAC (Monster Attack Crew), lead by Dan Moroboshi aka Ultraseven, to defend his new home from evil.
UltraMatt's Thoughts: Ah, Leo. Leo Leo Leo Leo Leo. Coming straight off from the bizarreness that was Ultraman Taro, which had run an extra episode due to the lateness of Leo's start, Leo was an attempt by Tsuburaya to regain it's adult audience and return to the heady days of Ultraseven and the like. Instead what came out seemed to be rather dull and lifeless for an Ultra series, especially in the first eighteen episodes. The basic structure of those episodes went like this: monster shows up. Gen as Leo fights monster. Leo loses. Gen trains. Gen trains. Gen trains. Gen at the last moment discovers some way to defeat the monster. Gen as Leo fights monster. Leo wins. You see this pattern happen over and over again during these early episodes. This pattern was dropped, however, as the rest of the series became as good as the early episodes were bad. New concepts were added to spice up the originally rather bland series These included the introduction of Astra, Leo's younger brother; Ultraman King, a legendary Ultra; and new abilities for the previously martial arts only Ultra. The series got a particular shot in the arm at Episode 40, where....ok, I'm not going to spoil it. All I will say is that it took the series in a direction that no previous Ultra series ever had gone.
1974-1975
51 episodes
Tsuburaya Productions
Short Summery: Coming to Earth after his home planet was destroyed by the evil Magma-Seijin, Ultraman Leo aka Gen Ohtori teams up with MAC (Monster Attack Crew), lead by Dan Moroboshi aka Ultraseven, to defend his new home from evil.
UltraMatt's Thoughts: Ah, Leo. Leo Leo Leo Leo Leo. Coming straight off from the bizarreness that was Ultraman Taro, which had run an extra episode due to the lateness of Leo's start, Leo was an attempt by Tsuburaya to regain it's adult audience and return to the heady days of Ultraseven and the like. Instead what came out seemed to be rather dull and lifeless for an Ultra series, especially in the first eighteen episodes. The basic structure of those episodes went like this: monster shows up. Gen as Leo fights monster. Leo loses. Gen trains. Gen trains. Gen trains. Gen at the last moment discovers some way to defeat the monster. Gen as Leo fights monster. Leo wins. You see this pattern happen over and over again during these early episodes. This pattern was dropped, however, as the rest of the series became as good as the early episodes were bad. New concepts were added to spice up the originally rather bland series These included the introduction of Astra, Leo's younger brother; Ultraman King, a legendary Ultra; and new abilities for the previously martial arts only Ultra. The series got a particular shot in the arm at Episode 40, where....ok, I'm not going to spoil it. All I will say is that it took the series in a direction that no previous Ultra series ever had gone.
As the episode 51 closed Leo, so did it close on the golden age of Ultraman. In the end, it's important not to remember Leo for it's faults but for the daring steps it took towards the end of it's run. Eyes of the lion indeed!
Note: What was up with the female MAC uniforms? Are those pie plates on their chests???
Best Episode: Episode 22 "The Leo Brothers vs. The Monster Brothers"
Worst Episode: Episode 9 "Bridge of Friendship that Spans Space"
Fun Facts:
* Balkie-Seijin's costume, from the last episode of Ultraman Taro, was in fact a rejected design for Ultraman Leo.
*Episode 17 of Ultraman Leo has the dubieous distinction of having one of the lowest viewer ratings of any Ultraman series episode ever.
Note: What was up with the female MAC uniforms? Are those pie plates on their chests???
Best Episode: Episode 22 "The Leo Brothers vs. The Monster Brothers"
Worst Episode: Episode 9 "Bridge of Friendship that Spans Space"
Fun Facts:
* Balkie-Seijin's costume, from the last episode of Ultraman Taro, was in fact a rejected design for Ultraman Leo.
*Episode 17 of Ultraman Leo has the dubieous distinction of having one of the lowest viewer ratings of any Ultraman series episode ever.
Coming Up: A review!
Oh Poor poor Leo works so hard and just gets beat up. I do love the later episodes where there is a real story line. Really great!
ReplyDeleteLook forward to your next blogs!!