Upcoming BCI Ultraman DVD is pretty suspicious . . . (2 Viewers)

[Mark Talmadge]

First, for everyone who purchased the Ultraman Volume 1 set at Borders for $14.99 consider yourselves lucky, I know I do. I had to recently take my defective copy back for an exchange, they have to specially order a copy, and it appears that there was a huge mistake with their pricing. Their brick and mortar stores were selling copies of the DVD set for $14.99 and they recently changed the pricing on the set to $39.99 in their stores and on their online website at bordersstores.com.

I'm getting an exchange for my damaged set at the $14.99 because that's what I was originally charged but it looks like many fans got the jump on this before their prices were switched.

Lastly, the second volume of the series has been announced at TVShowsonDVD.com as being delayed just a bit.

 

[Paul Miller]

The list price has always been $39.99. When I first bought the set, it was $20.89 and that price is still in the $20-$21 for most online retailers.


Paul

 

[August Ragone]

This is not true. I have the copies of all of the original United Artists Television versions of ULTRAMAN, and the only things that were cut from the original Japanese version of the episodes themselves were literally a second or two of blood-letting in Episode 8 (where Chandora bites Red King in the arm) and when Ultraman rips off the frill of Jirass in Episode 10. No dialogue scenes were cut in the original UA-TV versions.

 

[August Ragone]

I have seen the document. The document is in both Japanese and English, one page each, and there are mistakes in the Japanese page which belie it's true nature. Officials from Tsuburaya Productions, let alone the late CEO, who was the second son of the man who founded the company, wouldn't refer to ULTRA SEVEN as "Ultraman Seven" in both languages. This forgery wouldn't stand up in a US court. The only thing that sold the document to the Tokyo Court was the Hanko -- or Japanese signature stamp -- which are the brunt of an outbreak of similar forgeries in Japan, and there is a call for the Hanko to be retired as a legal signature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkan#Japanese_usage

 

[Coressel]

Same here. I just got this DVD set for myself for my b-day, and I'm tickled to death to finally see this for the first time since the early 70's.

It's a great DVD set, and I'm sure it looks and sounds as good as they could make it for now.

There is imagery in this show that immediately took me back to the age of 5 when I first saw it on TV. For its age and the fact that it has been unavailable for so long, this Ultraman DVD release looks damn fantastic!

 

[Mark Talmadge]

GAWD, and how many of guys sing along to that annoying Ultraman theme song ... in the English language ... it's really annoying but you get SUCKED RIGHT IN.

 

[Mark Talmadge]

So, anyone anticipating the second half of the series? I was so impressed by the video transfer that I'm glad to have purchased the set that I bought. Here's hoping that BCI releases the following shows as well ...

 

[Paul Miller]

I bought the first half of Ultraman as a blind buy and I thought the show was excellent so I'm eagerly awaiting getting the second half of the series from DeepDiscount in the mail. How do the follow ups compare in the quality of the show to the first series?


Paul

 

[Radioman970]

Interesting. I was planning to buy this today. :frowning: I hate to keep watching my bootlegs when there's something of better picture quality out there. Hum....... what to do? Well, it may be a trip to see it in this version. The nostalgia will still be there and I've got those bootleg... I'm geting it!! :p

 

[August Ragone]

There was a recent interview with Cliff MacMillan of BCI/Eclipse with Ian Friedman (I don't have enough posts to be able to include links here) where he states that BCI is not going to release any of other Ultraman series which had been claimed to be under the ownership of Chiayo Productions (which recently lost a huge law suit in China lobbed by Tsuburaya Productions for producing an all-new Chinese 52-episode series called "Project Ultraman," which has been halted).

Perhaps, one day, we'll get an truly stellar release of ULTRAMAN...

 

[Radioman970]

I'd buy it yet again if that happened. Although I don't think I'd buy it a 3rd time if there was a Superduper truly stellar edition of Ultraman.

 

[John Cassidy]

It's been a few weeks ago, but just in case nobody has heard about it, I thought I'd pass along the great news:

Bangkok's Independent Newspaper

Final ruling in Ultraman case
Published on Feb 6, 2008

The Supreme Court yesterday ruled in favour of Tsuburaya Productions of Japan by finding Sompote Saengduenchai was not a co-inventor of Ultraman as he had claimed in a legal battle that started in 1997, said a lawyer for the Japanese firm.

Manu Rakwattanakul, a Baker and McKenzie Thai-land partner representing Tsuburaya Productions, said the Central Intellectual Property Court yesterday read a Supreme Court ruling that said there was no cir-

cumstantial evidence to support claims that Sompote Saengduenchai co-invented the popular television superhero.

The ruling means Sompote and his company, Tsubu-raya Chaiyo, must stop profiteering from Ultraman. Sompote had for many years earned significant revenue from producing Ultraman television shows, colouring books and T-shirts, as well as other merchandise using the character.

However, the Supreme Court told Sompote to end such activities within 30 days from the date of ruling.

The case started in 1997, when Tsuburaya Productions filed a lawsuit against Sompote. He had earlier said that as co-inventor, he was entitled to sell Ultraman products.

The court also ruled the transfer of Ultraman rights to Sompote was invalid, and the decision ends Sompote's bid to continue his enterprise.

Tsuburaya Production lost its case earlier in the First Instance Court but made an appeal and finally won in yesterday's ruling.

Manu said, "It was a long case, involving many documents and witnesses."

He said the decision meant Tsuburaya Productions was the sole copyright owner.

Sompote was ordered to pay Bt10.7 million plus interest at the rate of 7.5 per cent a year starting from December 16, 1997, when the original lawsuit was filed.

The Nation

More news items:
Tsuburaya wins "Ultraman" battle - Asia entertainment news from Variety - varietyasiaonline.com
AFP: Top court rules Ultraman is not Thai

For those who are unaware of the whole story behind the legal quagmire over the Ultraman franchise, SciFiJapan.com has the whole story:
SciFi Japan » Legal Victories for Tsuburaya Productions

The SFJ article has also said that BCI has confirmed that they will no longer license any Ultraman shows from Chaiyo. As I understand it, the DVDs they did have been discontinued.

Although Tsuburaya Productions won the case, they won't market the shows outside Japan just yet (possibly late this year, the earliest), as they have sold the company to Japanese multimedia giant TYO, and as a result, Tsuburaya is making plans for better facilities. Because of this, they are moving out of their old studio (dubbed the "Kaiju Warehouse" by fans; It's also not too far from Toho Studios), which will soon be demolished and the land sold. Fans consider this to be the end of an era, but the studio will still be run by the Tsuburaya family.

If only 'Ultraman' was here to stop the wrecking ball (click on the top link once you enter this page)

 

[Radioman970]

Thanks for posting all this John.

I reconsidered and didn't buy them as stated in a previous post a year and a half ago, but I may have to now before the current ones go oop. If there was a definite date of a better release of this I'd wait...but hell, they can't even give us that. :frowning:

 

[John Cassidy]

If they do, I really hope they release a box set edition with art by Alex Ross! (Ross really did do box art for special edition DVD sets of Ultra Q, Ultraman, Ultra Seven and Return of Ultraman in Japan.)

I'm sure we'll get decent releases in the future. August Ragone has said that there are still at least two major labels still interested in purchasing the rights to all of the Ultra Series.

 

[DeWilson]

I'd love to see an offical ULTRA-SEVEN release - there was an English dubbed version PRIOR to the "Turner" done one that aired in Hawaii in the 1970's - maybe that version would be released.

An offical top-flight release of ULTRAMAN from master-prints with the top-quality complete ENGLISH (and perhaps Spanish and French) dubs along with subs would be great.

ULTRAMAN (and ULTRA-SEVEN) deserve a proper respectful release in the U.S.

I wonder if any English-Dubbed ULTRA-Q episodes exists besides that one episode that had been going around for years.

 

[Radioman970]

Thanks. That is something to consider. I think I'll get them and replace them with any better set later. I have mediocre fan versions that I could probably live with. A tough choice! I've seen screen shots of the BCI at Twitchfilm.net and they really look good to me. There's one shot of that blue alien ball thing that appears in the first (or one of the first) episode, and it's so colorful and clear I really need something besides what I have right now, which is rather fuzzy and short on color. This shot sells it to me...



Put me on the list for other shows like this as well. Space Giants and Spectre Man included. I really love these old japanese shows. I'm glad major labels are noticing what fans have been buying and rebuying over the years just to have it to watch. We'll spend what it takes to keep upgrading.

 

[John Cassidy]

The Japanese Region 2 discs are of waaaay superior quality, trust me. Tsuburaya spent a lot of time digitally erasing scratches, speckles and whatnot. The discs look beautiful. Whatever Tsuburaya has could even be suited to a Blu-Ray release.

For the BCI discs, Chaiyo provided them with compressed copies of the R2 discs. Compared to the R2 release, there was just something with the picture that was still way off (including slight red tinting).

Currently, Tsuburaya's non-Ultra TV series, Mighty Jack (which was, reportedly, Eiji Tsuburaya's favorite show to work on, and the Mighty Jack symbol from that series ultimately became the "arrow" on the Tsuburaya logo), was the most recent series to get a restoration for DVD. The video preview I saw looked incredible!

Bandai now has the DVD rights to all of Tsuburaya's shows in Japan. Aside from more planned rereleases, the next restoration job (and the first under the Bandai banner) will be the 1979 anime series, The Ultraman (the first animated entry in the Ultra Series, and was co-produced by [Nippon] Sunrise)!

 

[John Cassidy]

Unfortunately, the Hawaiian version of Ultra Seven is lost. As I understand it, only two episodes actually remain. One of the Ultra Seven DVD releases in Japan has the Hawaiian OP credit sequences (different versions of them!).

The Turner version of Ultra Seven was actually dubbed by Cinar in Canada in 1985. It first aired on TNT in February of 1994 (I remember that well). The Canadian prints were actually uncut! It was Turner that did the cutting for TV. Rights to the Cinar dub reverted to Tsuburaya in 1999, when TNT's rights ran out.

BTW, Ultra Seven is my personal favorite Ultra Series! Seven himself is also my favorite superhero.

 

[Bryan^H]

You, and me both brother! If Spectreman, and Space Giants are released in like fashion of the Ultraman sets from BCI, I will be about the happiest person on the planet! There is nostalgia, then there are the giant robo shows from Japan that my brother and I used to watch after school.
Watching them again would be like heaven on earth!

 

[John Cassidy]

Since BCI couldn't release any more Ultra-stuff, they are doing the alternative, by releasing some neat tokusatsu shows not seen in the US until now! These are from the Japanese company Senkosha (now Senko Planning), produced in the early 70s, and yes, these are *legit* releases from BCI!

Out now on DVD is their first release, Iron King, a very offbeat and sometimes comical Ultraman-type action show from 1972! I highly recommend it! The show is about two secret agents, a handsome action type (Gentarou Shizuka) and his bumbling nerdy sidekick (Gorou Kirishima), the latter secretly becomes the Ultra Seven-looking giant cyborg Iron King! The 26-episode series (all included in the set!) has three different segments, with three different villains (the first 10 eps, the Shiranui Ninja Tribe, being the best one, IMHO).

Coming soon on DVD in March (IIRC) is Super Robot Red Baron, basically a very wild live-action variant of Mazinger Z from 1973! If all goes well, the release after that will be Silver Mask from 1971 (a superhero action series, heavier on the talky sci-fi side for the first 10 episodes, before it becomes all Ultra-like for the remaining episodes, but it's still quite recommendable)!

The people who worked on these shows were Ultra Series vets, BTW! I highly recommend these shows.