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Ultraman Powered (1995) - The Unfortunate Hero | Ultra Retrospective
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- Опубліковано 12 сер 2024
- In 1995, Tsuburaya Production gave money to a relatively unknown American studio, Major Havoc, to make a new Ultra series. Major Havoc gave them Ultraman Powered. Now I'm gonna talk about it.
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0:00 - Preface
1:09 - The premise
4:52 - The cast, fight scenes, sound design
11:40 - A trainwreck of a production.
13:26 - Concluding thoughts
15:14 - Powered's... Legacy?
The blog post referenced:
ultrablogdx.wordpress.com/201...
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One reason I really respect Tsuburaya as a company is that unlike most long-running franchises, whenever a bad series is made, they never try to bury it, make fun of it, or act ashamed by its existence. Despite Powered being a failure of production and a straight-to-video release in Japan, Tsuburaya still embraced Powered as a fellow Ultraman, making toys and merchandise of him all the way into the late 90’s, and even recently getting Kane Kosugi back to reprise his role in UGF.
??? They're currently burying the lost media of the 4kids Ultraman Tiga dub
@@bluebaron6858that’s 4kids, nobody cares.
@@frozenlizard3370 lost media and meme potential
@@bluebaron6858 shit, you right.
@@bluebaron6858And this is just adds on to the comments statement!
Its amazing how his 40 second cameo from galaxy fight did a better job at his fighting then the entire show
I guess having a better suit thats not fragile helps
Would be funny if he just shove them around and other ultras being confused.
@@dudududu1926 The Ultras weren't confused, but the film incorporated that as his fighting technique.
@@ConstantineFurman I meant shove them around as lightly as the one from the show.
Yea
Ultraman Powered's theme and suit designs were its major redeeming qualities
They fight like siblings do when parents are watching. An intricate ballet of not being the one who gets yelled at while still doing the most damage.
I've actually watched a few episodes of Ultraman Powered with some friends, and one of my friends put the fight scenes best. "This is like watching a bouncer deal with a drunk guests at a bar while also being drunk."
Also the Powered DaDa suit was actually reused from Powered. Well except for the heads, that came from the 3do game, (yes there was a 3do game, I don't know why either)
Fun fact, for "Ultra Galaxy Fight: The Absolute Conspiracy" where Powered made an appearance, the English dub is played by Kane Kosugi, the original actor who played Kai.
I was so Glad they brought him back for that role! It Was appropriate :)
Didn't he also voice him in the JPN dub?
This series has been both a guilty and honest pleasure for me (yes, the cheese and production history are...unique, but I'd hold up significant portions of the soundtrack with any of the Heisei and Reiwa era shows). I had a chance to spend time with Jeffery Combs last month at Grand Rapids ComicCon. He signed my Powered (Pawado) Bluray import from Japan, and I showed him some scenes from his episode, which he had completely forgot about. "I got a call from my agent asking me if I wanted to show up in Bronson Canyon for a weekend to make some quick money." We had a great chat about what shooting the episode was like.
I KNEW IT! I knew they filmed near Bronson Cave! I felt it in my bones as I was watching.
@@ZaGorudanGo and inform AVGN quick!
When I met Combs in 2019, I asked him if he had anything interesting he could remember about making "Ultraman," and he told me about them shooting at Bronson Canyon as well!
It's so cool that you actually got to show him some of the episode, Jim!
@@ConstantineFurman Thanks! I have a cool picture of him signing my Blu-ray while he watched his episode for the first time in years. Too bad I can't post it in a comment here.
Kudos to Jeff for giving a lively performance just for a quick buck.
I’m definitely in the minority, but I just can’t hate this show. I have so much nostalgia for it because it was one of the first Ultraman shows I ever watched, back in 2007 when you could watch pretty much anything on UA-cam. And its music was composed by Toshihiko Sahashi so like Gundam SEED, the music is the best part of the show.
I acknowledge all the faults with the show. But the monsters looked great and some of the music is catchy. And I adore the evil AI origin for the Dada. Not to mention the two female members of the team are incredibly beautiful. Had a crush on them when I was younger.
Powered to my understanding wasn't actually based on B movies, but rather was made like it is because of the misconception that toku is cheap. For some reason Major Havoc wanted to intentionally tap into that notion with cardboard buildings, poor suits, and other things. They told Tsupro about this, making the company panic as they sent over several people like Shinji Higuchi and others to make sure the product was something good. Powered coulda been even worse. I have heard that the Japanese dub for Powered is better by some degree.
That’s actually kinda frustrating. They decided to intentionally make powered boring and cheap looking instead of making it look interesting
I think powered should be remade. I think this ultraman could be a great live action blockbuster character.
Ultraman Powered: “We have Ide at home”
Ide at home: 5:46
Having seen both Great and Powered back to back, I really have to agree on the "genuine effort" part : Towards the Future has a lot more going for it with how things ended up being in the final product. That being said, I also find Jack Shindo and Kenichi Kai to be exact opposites in their impressions on me as characters. While likable enough Shindo often times felt a little too "I know better than thou" while Kai had little to no discernable traits to feel like an interesting character. I actually think WINR's leader Edlund was more interesting, if only because I found him more sympathetic.
Also, I always found it weird how they apparently have more than one base, but there's ever only five people we know of in Powered's attack team.
I feel like Kai being boring is deliberate since he was supposed to the audience-insert. Most of the character development is left to the other characters like Edlund or Young
Watching this gave me a thought. Since Tsuburaya was trying to have the Ultra series branch out to other countries in the 90's, imagine if there was an animated American Ultraman series in the same vein of DC and Marvel's superhero cartoons at the time.
There was a Hanna Barbera cartoon titled Ultraman: The Adventure Begins that's pretty much what you're describing, but from the 80s.
It was intended to be an episodic series, but at the last minute they edited the episodes they had into a theatrically-released movie that bombed horribly. Should've stuck to the original plan.
I re-watched powered recently and I will admit. it's not as good as I remembered but there things to like about powered and his series is not really the best in terms of action scenes. but I do like his design as well as the monsters. and I like how each episode were setting up the monster of the episode
That's so cool that they had so many big names attached to the story making and Jeffrey Combs as an actor, the suits looked pretty awesome too, shame it wasn't executed properly
When I watched Powered last year, I was pretty conflicted on it myself. I still really dig the monster designs, and I think attempting a modernized take on the original show is an interesting idea, even if something more reflective of American culture may have been better, like you suggested. I think the show had interesting ideas, but a lot of them went to waste with the stupid quips. I really enjoyed the setpiece with the Baltan aliens in episode 1, it had a nice tension to it… up until the characters start cracking wise. Like you mentioned, I think the show wanted the audience to laugh with them, but at the end of the day it’s more just laughing AT them.
The only part of Powered that truly aggravated me was the idea of them taking serious episodes of the original show and subjecting them to this cynical, sarcastic tone. I really enjoy My Home is Earth from the original show, and seeing it get turned into 90’s schlock really got under my skin. I think I could say the same for the final episode as well. They both just feel like they absolutely missed everything that made those original episodes so iconic and lasting.
All in all, I don’t really know what to think about Powered. I want to laugh at its unadulterated 90’s stank, or the hilariously unfunny quips each character regurgitates every 30 seconds, but the show also really isn’t entertaining enough to really get enjoyment out of it. For me, Ultraman Powered will forever be a curiosity that intrigues me, an utter failure of a production, only memorable for being the first of its kind in a few ways.
I hope TsuPro takes another crack at an American Ultraman production one day, I would really love for this franchise to finally have some foothold in America for once. If they do, we can only hope it doesn’t end up like Masked Rider… I suppose only time will tell! Either way, another great Ultra Retrospective, I can’t wait for the next one!
i was born in '66 and fell in love with the show. even today i get my Ultraman fix with Override: 2 for the nintendo switch. getting to fight as Ultraman while limited is still fun.
In hindsight, the episode with Jamila could've been more emotional if it was revealed the Baltans were the ones to experiment on him. Not only would it show they were trying to come up with counters to Ultraman, but give the audience more reason to see the alien invaders to be defeated.
I think the final episode heavily implies that they were the one that experimented on him (as a test for Ultraman), though I think it should have been more overt
The redesigns are really good, i like the red blue rival monster designs best I think. But yeah maybe some American inspired kaiju would have been good to y'know get shoved around.
Oh wait maybe gabora is my favorite redeisn.
They literally could have redesigned the eye back monster from the 2nd episode to be like the Gila monster
Hm, curious about that Ultraseven X mention
And for some reason, it has a tie-in game for the 3DO of all things.
I always feel like Powered works better as an animation. The suit designs and soundtrack are really good and with animation, they don't have to worry about the suits breaking
I'm kinda sad that the great designs of Ultraman Powered and the Kaijus along with an actual great looking camera was wasted for a production as lackluster as Ultimate Hero. Hope the production team enjoyed their Hawaii vacation at least.
Wait wait shoving the monsters...OH MY GOD THIS SHOW INSPIRED ULTRAMAN COSMOS!!
Cosmos fight is DBZ compared to Powered.
@@androyus Meant to add: but did it MUCH better.
The reason the fights were slow and weak were cause the people didn’t want to damage the suit as it was very well made and detailed. And they made it Powered’s official fighting style. Showing that tsubarya cares despite. other people not
I know this was 4 months ago but dude,it was literally because the suit was fragile as hell,thats why it was slow and weak.
Powered definitely deserves the flak it gets, and its production problems are clearly visible and weigh down the experience, but the conversations tend to end at 'Great good, Powered bad'
Which is true
But both shows had awful productions, Great's just turned out a competent product
Mr. Kraus, Jack Shindo's actor, is ready to offer insight to anyone who asks about the production of his show. Reportedly, 26 episodes were commissioned by Tsupro for their production company. There were Ultraman fans in the crew, and they were ready to tackle to project. Tsuburaya underestimated the cost per episode, and gave them a miniscule budget. They told the crew to carry on even when they went overbudget.
Tsuburaya pulled out with 13 completed episodes and left the production company several million dollars in debt. Tsuburaya produced toys that were sold in America using likenesses of characters without the actor's consent. That scandal is what brought Ultraman's merchandise run in the states to a screeching halt.
Ultraman Towards the Future never aired in Australia not because of content guidelines, but because all involved parties refused to run a show whose owners screwed them over on multiple occasions.
It's not the same Tsuburaya running things now, hands have changed several times since then, but there is still a palpable bitterness amongst everyone involved with Ultraman Towards the Future. Mr. Kraus says that he chooses to take the bad with the good and welcomes the fond memories his show has brought people.
Say what you will about Powered, but it hasn't left the same stain on the people involved as its predecessor did.
Damn
I kinda want to see a show like this again: an attack team not set in Japan, redesigned monsters, and new locations.
Of course, it probably would be much better than UH
I just really like it when the shows would have characters and locations that weren’t Japanese as it made the world more lived in
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Cool
"They compromised the choreography for a demographic that never even got it"
So this is where modern corporations learned their lessons from
Technically it's the second time America co-produced an Ultraman show, the first being Hanna-Barbera's Ultraman USA
He gave the caveat of "live action."
Ultraman USA or Ultraman The Animated Movie was a Great 4 episode Mini-Series!
And the fact that this Animated movie was what got me into Ultraman in the first place! Yeah I was stoked for more!
I feel one of the other issues not mentioned here is that since so much of Powered is based on the original 66 show, even at its best, it still kinda makes you go "but I could also watch original series instead"
Man I love these ultra retrospectives dude keep it up bruh 🫥
Seriously, if not for the badass monster costumes, the sweet-looking 90s female WIN-R members & Jeffrey Combs, I can never finish this show. The (non) action literally put me to sleep 😪
The moment I saw your Letterboxd review of this… I knew this video was gonna be good.
Thanks for the content man, such lot of fun lately with it. Love from Nicaragua
A good video, as always. It's been a really long time since I've seen Powered, so I don't really remember my experience watching it very well beyond enjoying some of the kaiju redesigns, but my favorite part of the show is the Japanese closing song Starlight Fantasy, which is an absolute banger.
Let's also mention that Powered along with Great and the Ultra Force are gonna be in the Regulos First Mission special
0:52 - Was that a real effect of Kai falling or did you add that yourself? Question aside, these Ultraman Retrospectives have been great and it's nice to see Towards the Future get some more proper support as, from my HIGHLY unfortunate experiences, American kaiju fans prefer Ultraman Powered far more which is perplexing beyond the possibility that the latter series has familiar returning monsters and equally familiar English accents. I'm also not terribly surprised that the filmmakers didn't take the project seriously due to the attitudes against Japanese-made fantasy and, perhaps more-so, the general blase attitude of Hollywood-based B-movie making.
That's the actual effect in the show, lmao.
I still think a B-movie inspired Ultraman has potential, but with the general attitude of projects like that usually being that of an attempt to make a quick buck, it wasn't a good mix with Ultraman. You have to make a genuine effort for this kind of series, even if it doesn't turn out great.
Another great watch, hope to see you possibly at G-Fest!
Anyone got an Ultra kaiju they kind of want to see get the Powered treatment? I honestly wonder how they would have handled Gyango, the rascal from space or rather from a man's mind and a meteorite from space.
Geronimon
@@BubbaUltra Oh yeah that'd be pretty sweet. And hey Dorako and Telesdon could be resurrected too.
Maybe Seabozu?
They reimagining of Da-da was by far the best thing this series did. The story of the episode did scar me as a kid and Da-da was almost more of a horror villain. The rest of the series was so bad though, which is disappointing with how cool the monsters often looked.
This is my favorite series, keep it up
As a big Star Trek fan. It makes me happy to know there's a universe where Jeffrey Combs and Pigmon are friends.
I think the production behind this show is more entertaining than the actual show
I would really like an ultraman crossover with the Scp foundation as the defence force or attack team. It would sort of be like Ultra Q where they investigate unknown entities and monsters.
Watching this with friends was fun, so much so that all the jokes that were made and good vibes shared are the only thigns I remembered about the whole show.
If I ever get my hands on powered, I'll definitely do it justice.
One day.....Powered would get the S.H Figuarts treatment
One of the most best ultraman series ❤❤❤❤❤❤
I find that the general attitude toward special effects and stunts in American media is that you’re supposed to be convincing the audience that it’s all real. And that if you can’t because of limited resources or whatever, then treat it like a joke or don’t bother at all. Which seems to be what happened here, which is a damn shame.
I remember checking this one out merely out of curiosity back in the 1990s.....it was pretty lackluster, I thought at the time, and I felt that if they were going to borrow from a previous Ultraman series, they could've used Ace Killer in the finale and improved upon the fight choreography. Also, using the actor who played Jiraiya in Ninja Sentai Kakuranger as the chief protagonist in a cast of all-Westerners....
The costume is redeeming thing on this series, I like the buff look. Well that's it
Great vid
bro, even This show honored the Original by making the Main character japanese, and Shinkenger couldn't get ONE JAPANESE DUDE TO PLAY JAYDEN
The opening of the Dada episode haunted me as a child
7:36 “Ultraman could no longer throw any punches”.
Ah yes, Ultraman Powered and his power to lightly shove monsters
Jeffery "Weyoun Brunt Shran" Combs was in this show??? Ok now I HAVE to see it
Whilst you're right about 99.99% of what you're saying, I can't sit idly by and let you besmirch Harrison Page. That dude's good in everything. At the very least in this, he's better than everybody else who isn't Jeffrey Combs (or maybe Kimberly Beck. I need to see her episode again to be sure).
So who is the crappier Gomora: Powered Gomora or Monster Army Gomora?
At least the Japanese version of the theme song is good.
It's such a shame, there's alot of potential with an American Ultraman series and those monster and alien designs are sick.
At least we got Ultraman Rising to show that it can be done (even though it's animated)
Does superhuman samurai syber-squad count as an ultrman show?
The show it's based on, Gridman, is related enough to be covered in a potential spinoff series.
It's not officially an Ultra show, but there's lots of shared staff and whatnot. It was the sorta testbed for a lot of the SFX in Tiga though. It's funny that SSSS.Gridman does have some odd Powered references. Like Powered versions of various monsters being especially in focus in Akane's room.
@@ZaGorudancan't wait to see
Oh man this shows only redeeming quality was kane kosugi, i remember watching this on Japanese Hulu excited to watch an Americanized Ultraman as a kid and it was so bad it made me laugh so much except the Dada and final episode of Baltan. It just gives me so much nostalgia lmao, a different type that i get from like Nexus or Leo.
If nothing else, the two Attack Team ladies are _gorgeous_ .
I can honestly say I’d give this show another watch, if they refilmed the fight scenes. Even if they used CGI.
Agree.... DaDa ep is the best.... Horror vibe is really got me
Well there was an explanation why Powered Always Push And shove the enemy.... That because the fighting style of powered seems imitated Sumo And Some Budhist monk
0:55
All I need to say:
*Jeffrey Combs* was in the Red King episode. (Red shirt, khaki vest.)
Like, Re-Animator, Star Trek, The Question, & Prime Ratchet Jeffrey Combs.
I mainly like this season as a fan of Kakuranger.
this is crazy
Even though this show is not the best its way better than the non Power rangers Saban stuff Like Masked Rider and Big Bad Beetle Borgs, What i like about the show is that its taken seriously and doesnt have bad comedy every 2 seconds.
Feel like with the success of Godzilla x kong now would be a good time bring in an American ultraman. Its clear that US audiences are now more open to the lighthearted/goofy tone of showa era kaiju films so why not bring in a new version of American Ultraman. And with wrestling getting popular again why not throw in wwe stile moves/choreography for him. Imagine ultraman hitting a powerbomb on dada, or gomora hitting close line. It'd be great
Ultraman rising
i assume the reason why the series never aired in America has something to do with the Chayopro lawsuit
Is that kage kosugi as ultraman?
You forgot to mention Harrison Page of Sledgehammer fame.
11:04 episode?
Good news, the film is Good
If only you yanks could do a Gamera adaptation, then the Japanese Kaiju trinity will have all had American interpretations
Please no.
Wait if this wasn't aired in america where did yall grow up watching this show?
Such a beautiful design...flawed in terms of actions
I was a wrestling fan since Bob Backlund. he was my guy then. anyway, I bought into the Monday night wars and even though I thought of myself as an "educated" fan Hogan being the 3rd member of the NWO caught me completely off guard and blew me away. it was brilliant. I can't tell you how much I hated the NWO. If was so bad that I'd get so mad I'd change channels, but being afraid of possibly missing a miracle WCW victory without an NWO run-in I'd always switch back.
Effing lost it when you called P the Unfortunate Hero😂😂
Valeu!
Thank you!
like a gougar
Sym bionic titan the best American ultraman
Funnily enough, the last Powered episode I rewatched was the one with the great Jeffrey Combs in it (the one where they introduced Pigmon and Red King). I'm still surprised to see him in this series (despite knowing that the man is a B-movie legend). And I say 'last' because I just cannot stand just how boring the show was.
I think why it failed in america has to with the fact that they saw it as oh its just another low budget hero show for kids whereas i feel in towards the future they wanted to stay true to the franchise without making many changes putting these two side by side i would alwasy pick towards the future over powered any day
at least the footage is in English
Isn't Ultraman Powered a show of 1993?
When you think about it, you gotta give it to Tsubaraya for the fact that powered (and ginga) being their lowest points in the franchise and its not all that bad.
Don't get me wrong, I love KR, SS and MH and their best is just as good as Tsubarayas best but when they're bad, I would prefer cockroaches to eat my eyes out.
8:54 F bomb censored. 9:06 F bomb uncensored. OK then?
UA-cam allows one. PG-13 rules, sometimes I save it for the better line. It's lame but I've yet to be demonetized for this strat.
@@ZaGorudan So Google are hypocrites, as well as being stupid. That's par the course since all they care about is money. Typical corporation. Anyway, do keep up the good work. I've been enjoying watching these videos. :)
jeffrey combs is here, holy shit lmao
Its flawed, but I like it more than leo
Seeing Ultraman doing Buddhist hand gestures (mudras) is plain weird.
Of course I'm not surprised, you just go for the most typical thing to bash on, Typical review
you're the one who clicked on an ultraman powered review so I dunno what you expected.
@@ZaGorudan I'm just trying to find out if me and my friend are the only existing being that actually enjoys the show
@@ReoGojira Based on some comments I've seen both here and around the web, you're apparently not alone.
yet another example (they just keep coming:....American production companies / Hollywood...do not try to make toku...don't even start to think about it
Here's my thing: why are the International attempts to produce Ultraman burdened with the shoddiest, crappiest special effects and cinematography?