Created by legendary Japanese special effects pioneer Eiji Tsuburaya (Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan), Ultra 7 was the second series in a string of TV shows devoted to the exploits of a universal Ultra 7police force from Nebula M78 assigned to rid the galaxy of evil and destructive alien monsters.
Ultra 7, in particular, followed Dan Moroboshi (Koji Moritsugu), a telepathic cartographer from The Land of Light who, in his human form, joins comrades Amagi (Satoshi Furuya), Soga (Shinsuke Achina), Furuhashi (Sandaiyu Dokumamushi), Donna (Yuriko Hishimi), and Kiriyama (Joji Nakayama) in the Ultra Garrison, an elite task force watching out for marauding giant aliens on Earth.
The sixth member of the team in his human form, he is deemed Ultra Seven when he dons his Ultra mask and becomes the giant warrior who is called out to dispatch any troublemaking creatures. The TeamThere are lots of bizarre visuals and gadgets in the show, chief of which is the Ultra Strike, a super jet that can split off into three separate capsules, and the souped-up Ultra Mobile, complete with gas jets, missiles and force fields.
Considered by fans of the genre to be the best and most serious entry in the Ultra series, Ultra 7 ran from October ’67 to September ’68, yielding 49 half-hour episodes before Tsuburaya Productions moved on to work on more Godzilla sequels and, eventually, in 1971, another Ultraman series, called The Return of Ultraman.
production details
Japan | 49×25 minutes | Broadcast October 1967 – September 1968
Creator: Eiji Tsuburaya
cast
Koji Moritsugu as Dan Moroboshi
Satoshi Furuya as Amagi
Shinsuke Achina as Soga
Sandaiyu Dokumamushi as Furuhashi
Yuriko Hishimi as Donna
Joji Nakayama as Kiriyama
