Ultraman: Series One, Vol. 1

Ultra-pleased! And if you want to be, too, watch it in Japanese!
There sure are a lot of mean-spirited know-nothings out there, judging from the semiliterate 1-star reviews this puppy is racking up. It's almost as if they liked the craptacular bootleg versions of this that were floating around before...

Look. This isn't absolutely perfect. The dub version has some pretty distracting audio problems, but they're transitory, and I am 99% certain it was the best they could do at the price-point they wanted to be able to offer. Could they have cleaned up the audio? I'm not sure, but I bet if they did the whiners would be whining that the set cost $75.00.

People are complaining about how it sometimes drops into subtitled Japanese--this is so that you can watch THE WHOLE EPISODE, for the first time ever in the US. The US version was previously heavily edited for time. And this simply illustrates my point, to wit:

This is a Japanese series. The actors are Japanese. The director was Japanese. The scripts were in...

Not perfect - but THRILLED that it's finally available!!!
Ok, first off, I have to respectfully disagree with the bad reviews here re: quality of this release. After reading them, and then buying the set, I was pleasantly suprised when I popped it in the dvd player. The video quality is very good (without question better than any of the three different bootlegs sets I've seen) and the audio dub is, well, pretty good. Was the audio totally restored and cleaned up? No, I don't think so but it doesn't sound overly noisy (again, especially compared to bootlegs). I have the Japanese laserdisc set and I also have the Japanese DVD box set that was fully remastered (video and audio [only in Japanese though - no english dub or subtitle included]). The picture quality on the Japanese dvd set is amazing but this set looks pretty d*mn good...AND this set has the english dub and subtitles! AND it's very affordable! For $20, packaging is great, as are the menus and booklet. If you're an ultraman fan, should you buy it? ABSOLUTELY!!

Re:...

Great show, not a great DVD
Like many others I've waited a long time to see Ultraman again and am thrilled about this DVD set. It's a great show, just the way I remember it... in fact it's funnier than I could have realized back when I was a kid. Several of the shows are downright magical especially 'The Rambunctious One From Space.' The writing in this particular show is funny, touching and sometimes just scary enough for kids. Great family viewing or wonderful if you're just into the kitsch of it all.

For new fans thinking about getting this set: you're about to see the origins of Power Rangers and other similar shows. Only the original Ultraman is the king of the genre and never successfully imitated.

For anyone reading all of the harsh reviews, be aware that bootleg versions of these shows are NOT better. It is true that the sound on this set is often poor but it is the best we're going to get. And the fact that it includes the original Japanese language track (and subtitles) puts it...

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