Do you love Ultraman? Do you love giant Japanese monster movies? Do you love really weird obscure movies?
Well odds are if you are reading Monster Island News the answer is pretty obvious isn't it!
Let me tell you about a a very cool little film that you probably have never heard of called "Space Warriors 2000" which is a mish-mash of clips from old "Ultraman" episodes, and from the looks of it other Japanese monster movies, combined with new footage to create a stand alone movie.
Think of it like "Power Rangers", "Gamera Super Monster" or how Turkish sci fi films are made.
Anyway the film was produced in the mid 1980s and released to TV here in the United States. After the movie aired it disappeared into obscurity never to be seen again.
That is, until now. It seems that a distributor called Spectrum Ventures has gotten a hold of a print of "Space Warriors 2000" and has plans to possibly release it to DVD. Only one problem, the print has deteriorated to a point where it is no longer of any quality for such a release. Being that there would be both time and money issues in restoring SW2000 Spectrum is wavering on their plans.
This is where you come in.
Richard Gladman of the Cyberschizoid blog has engineered a campaign via email and Facebook to let Spectrum see just how much fan support there is for a "Space Warriors 2000" DVD release.
Apparently cobbled together in the mid-eighties from footage taken from two Ultraman movies (one in fact a TV special called Ultraman Zoffy:The Ultra Warriors vs The Great Monster Army!!!) and released to American television, this is an immensely entertaining giant monster fest which is perfect for lovers of bad movies and trash cinema!
Here is a clip:
As Ultraman fans we all have a duty to persuade Spectrum Ventures to release "Space Warriors 2000" on DVD! Remember .... you have the power!
This articulated Ultraman Belial Ultra Act Action Figure is imported from Japan.
Capable of taking on multiple Ultramen at once!
Ultraman Belial is an Ultraman imprisoned long ago by the Ultraman King. Corrupted and turned evil by Reiblood Seijin, Ultraman Belial is also a very able Ultra, capable of taking on many Ultramen at once. This nicely detailed and articulated Ultraman Belial Ultra Act Action Figure is imported from Japan. The 6-inch tall plastic figure comes in a displayable window box, ready
Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: Youtube / Wikipedia / Avery Guerra
If you are a huge Ultraman geek like I am, than the new trailer for "Ultraman Zero The Movie: Super Deciding Fight! The Belial Galactic Empire" will be right up your ally.
Looks like the folks over at Tsuburaya Productions have pulled out all the stops for this one with some amazing CGI work combined with the traditional 'man in the suit' effects made popular by the studios founding father, Eiji Tsuburaya.
There is some "Pirates of the Caribbean" themed stuff in there that I don't understand, but overall the film looks like the kind of giant monster, or in this case, superhero, free-for-all that we all yearn for.
Her is the skinny on the film from Wikipedia:
Ultraman Zero The Movie: Super Deciding Fight! The Belial Galactic Empire is an upcoming Japanese film in the Ultra Series to celebrate the franchise's 45th anniversary. It serves as a sequel to Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legend The Movie. The film will be directed by Yuichi Abe. The lead character Run (who serves as Ultraman Zero's human form) will be portrayed by Yu Koyanagi, the son of Bro. Tom of the Bubblegum Brothers. Other characters include Run's brother Nao, portrayed by Tatsuomi Hamada and Run's love interest Princess Emerana of Planet Esmeralda, portrayed by actress Tao Tsuchiya. The film will also feature a new version of Ultraman Belial called Galactic Emperor Kaiser Belia.
Along his journey in the film, Ultraman Zero will come across several allies collectively known as "Ultimate Force Zero" (ウルティメイトフォースゼロ, Urutimeito Fōsu Zero). One is Glenfire (グレンファイヤー, Gurenfaiyā), a free spirited warrior with a soul of burning magma from the Planet of Flames (炎の星, Honō no Hoshi). He wields the Fire Stick (ファイヤースティック, Faiyā Sutikku) as well as control over fire itself. Glenfire was originally the captain of the Pirates of Flames (炎の海賊, Honō no Kaizoku) traveling through space with the Avant-garde (アバンギャルド号, Uchūsen Abangyarudo Gō). The other is Mirror Knight (ミラーナイト, Mirā Naito), a being from the 2-D Planet of Mirrors (鏡の星, Kagami no Hoshi) who was originally charged with the duty to protect Planet Esmeralda from the attacks of Kaiser Belial. In addition to several mirror-based powers, he also performs the Mirror Knife (ミラーナイフ, Mirā Naifu) finisher attack. In addition to these living allies, Ultraman Zero meets the Jean-bird (ジャンバード, Janbādo), a spaceship with artificial intelligence from Planet Esmeralda that is passed down through the planet's royal family. It can transform into a humanoid robot that Nao can control called the Jean-bot (ジャンボット, Janbotto) by shouting "Jean Fight!" (ジャンファイト！, Jan Faito!). Jean-bot is armed with the Jean Blade (ジャンブレード, Jan Burēdo) on his right arm and the giant Battle Ax (バトルアックス, Batoru Akkusu). He can also execute the Beam Emerald (ビームエメラルド, Bīmu Emerarudo) finisher attack.
Kaiser Belial also gains two commanders to work under him in the film to control his empire: Iaron (アイアロン, Aiaron), who takes pride in his steel body, and Darkgone (ダークゴーネ, Dākugōne). All of them have control over robots called Legionoids (レギオノイド, Regionoido). The Legionoids come in an Alpha-type which is geared with a red drill for land combat and a Beta-type geared with a large bazooka for space combat.
All of the new characters in the film are based on the protagonists and antagonists of the Tsuburaya Productions television programs: Fireman, Mirrorman, and Jumborg Ace.
Since that info comes from Wikipedia, I can't say for sure if it is 100% accurate, but it sure sounds cool!
As was the case for most of the most recent entries into the "Ultraman" series, there is no word on any American release plans, either theatrically or domestically , for this one, so you should start looking for the Chinese DVD release at your favorite Anime shop beginning next summer.
Written By: Ken Hulsey
