Series background

Ultraman's creator was Eiji Tsuburaya from Tsuburaya Productions, a pioneer in special effects who was responsible for bringing Godzilla to life in 1954. The show's predecessor was a series called Ultra Q, a black-and-white 28-episode series very much like today's The X-Files or The Twilight Zone. When Ultra Q was finished, plans were underway for a series that would be even better.

The project had the following working titles/plots:

• WoO (ＷｏＯ ,Wū^?)
  This story had a corporeal space creature with eyes, who befriended a reporter named Jôji Akita, but the Self Defense Forces, who perceive him as a threat, were after him. This was basically the monster version of the British science fiction series Doctor Who (1963), and Woo's personality was comical.
  • NOTE: Tsuburaya Productions produced a new series, Bio Planet WoO, which made its TV series debut in January 2006. It is very loosely based on the above concept.

• Bemular (ベムラー ,Bemurā^?), then retitled Scientific Special Search Party: Bemular (科学特捜隊ベムラー ,Kagaku Tokusō Tai - Bemurā^?)
  The main characters are a defense force (with the same Japanese name as the Science Patrol) disguised as an art/photography team. One of the members, little did anyone (even his teammates) know, gained the ability to transform into a giant birdlike humanoid monster called Bemular (this is not the same Bemular that Ultraman would fight in Episode # 1 of the actual series), who defends Earth from monsters, aliens and other threats. Unlike Woo, Bemular was a tough and righteous fighter (and looked very similar in design to the title monster of the 1967 kaiju film Gappa, the Triphibian Monster). Allegedly the plot was scrapped when it was worried audiences might have trouble telling that one monster was good and the other evil.

• Redman (レッドマン ,Reddoman^?)
  The title hero of this project slightly resembled Ultraman as we know him, but he looked more demonic and had horns. He came to Earth after his planet was destroyed by aliens from Planet X. (Needless to say, Ultra Seven shared this working title as well.)

Both Bemular and Redman were designed by Toru Narita, who came up with the final design for Ultraman based on his Redman design, now resembling a less-scary Buck Rogers-style alien being (with a bit of the iconic "Roswell Alien" as well). The characteristic "Color Timer" (the "warning light" on his chest) was added at the eleventh hour.

The premise of the first series begins when Science Patrol (Kagaku Tokusou Tai) member Shin Hayata was flying his plane and a red sphere of light crashes into his Mini-VTOL. The sphere turns out to be the transport (Travel Sphere) for a red-and-silver giant being called Ultraman, and feeling remorse for killing the human, he merges his essence with Hayata to revive him. In return, Hayata serves as the human form for this being, and when danger threatens, he raises the Beta Capsule and transforms to Ultraman to save the day.

Monsters and heroes

One outstanding feature of the Ultraman series was the use of various monster costumes, known as kaiju in Japan. Often wildly imaginative, this feature would influence other series such as Gatchaman and Super Sentai series like Himitsu Sentai Goranger. The principals were played by famous stunt actor Haruo Nakajima, who played the original Godzilla. His apprentice, Bin Furuya, started out as Ultraman. Nakajima had a martial arts background and used it to create a sense of drama in order to be dramatically effective in costumes that had little potential to show emotion. For the first episodes, and this is clearly evident in the action sequences, simple wrestling was used. However, in later episodes sequences gradually evolved into more complex fighting that would later be reflected in anime productions (dramatic windups, extravagant gestures prior to unleashing an energy attack, bellicose roars and threat displays, etc.).

Often costumes of famous monsters like Godzilla would be recycled and altered, sometimes with nothing more than spray paint and often while the actor was still inside. Nakajima quipped once that the staggering gait of some of the monsters he portrayed was due less to his acting than to the fumes he had to endure. Some of the costumes could not be shown fully as his feet would be exposed, a necessary allowance to maintain balance in the often cumbersome outfits. Also, the expense of repairing the scale cities and landscapes used for battle scenes required economy of movement and meticulous planning.