"Ultraman: Towards the Future" (1990) TV mini-series

Director:

Andrew Prowse

Writers:

Shô Aikawa (story) &
Hidenori Miyazawa (story) ...

Genre:

Drama | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Astronaut turned UMA member Jack Shindo transforms into a new Ultraman to defend the Earth.

Plot Keywords:

Astronaut | Ultraman | Forest | Nerd | Superhero

Cast

Dore Kraus	...	Jack Shindo
Gia Carides	...	Jean Echo
Ralph Cotterill	...	Arthur Grant
Grace Parr	...	Kim Shaomin
Lloyd Morris	...	Charles Morgan
Rick Adams	...	Lloyd Wilder
Steve Apps	...	Ultraman
Robert Simper	...	Ultraman
Michael Read	...	The Monsters (as Mike Read)
Johnny Hallyday	...	The Monsters
Jay Hackett	...	Stanley Haggard
John Bonney	...	Narrator (voice)
David Grybowski	...	Ike
Chris Kemp
Debbie Little

Also Known As:

Ultraman Great
Urutoraman G (Japan)
Urutoraman gurêto (Japan)

Runtime:

30 min (13 episodes)

Country:

Australia | Japan

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:PG (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Company:

South Australian Film Corporation, The

Trivia:

Bandai's original designs for the "Hummer" jet vehicles were rejected by the South Australian Film Commission's staff, which said, "These will never work." So they did their own designs for the vehicle.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Clockers (1995)

A brilliant, well made superhero television mini-series.

Ultraman TTF is most likey one of the greatest mini-series about a superhero ever made. It offers monsters, action, humor, amazing special effects and very WELL DEVELOPED SCRIPTS (lacking from some other Ultra series). Jack Shindo is a great character, too bad the actor playing him hasn't done more films. The first half deals with the monster/poison named Gudis (edited for a feature direct to video). Even if the plot can become a little slow...the special effects can more than make up for it. The second half deals with...RANDOM CREATURES! Free of Gudis (personally, I don't get this. I mean, the natural monsters/mutations stop comming to let Gudis go ahead and destroy, wait for Ultraman to slay it, then go back to attacking). Despite the flaw, the writer does a good job here. My last nitpick is the fact that the character of Charles Morgan got VERY IRRITATING in some points and the fact that the Kudara costume looked awful on screen. Standing still it was realistic, but while fighting/rampaging, VERY OBVIOUS FOLDS CAN BE SEEN! Ultraman himself was well staged, had everything that a superhero needed to be (better than Superman!). Tall, (if 330ft counts) muscular, (no Bruce Lee, but passable) fires many beam weapons, knows very comic- bookesque poses, fight sceens are very realistic (makes the 90's Gamera look bad) and has a bit of humor in him. JACK: (upon being defeated by Kudara, and discovering another creature is on he loose) So we're in trouble. ULTRAMAN: You got it! JACK: What can we do? ULTRMAN: I'm open to suggestions. Truly a spectical for people of all ages. A must see! 10/10