Mill Creek releasing ULTRA SERIES on Bluray!!

[Terasawa]

Hard to be precise from the image provided in the article but it still looks devoid of natural film qualities. It just looks like they applied some heavy DNR.

[omgitsgodzilla]

Yeah, this is just another layer of processing slapped onto already over-processed transfers. At this point it's as if Tsuburaya is going out of its way to do anything but remaster the show.

[Terasawa]

At least the video now better matches the horrendous audio.

[daveblackeye15]

Oh hey just got my code for Ginga/S! No one else got one yet?

[gvamp]

I'm still waiting on my physical booklet which hasn't come in yet. I was told it was mailed out like three weeks ago but still hasn't gotten here yet. :\

I'm hoping soon.

[o.supreme]

I realize just by posting here I'm going to disappoint a lot of people . My apologies in advance.

Probably like you, I was wondering why we haven't heard anything from Mill Creek in nearly 2 months. (Taro's release date Being Jan 16th was made public October 20th). During kaiju-Con online back in July, it was more-or-less stated that There would probably be one release per month from Mill Creek throughout 2021 (Ultraman Taro & Ultraman Leo, being the first in Jan & Feb).... Well I decided to reach out to Mill Creek today. Their customer support response simply came back with an "Official Announcement" for Ultraman Leo will be made sometime after January 1, and only that it would be coming out in "2021"

Now..that doesn't necessarily confirm a delay, but based on past experience, announcements usually come at least 2-3 months before the actual release, so I'm thinking the continued pandemic has again slowed things down at MC, which is kind of sad. I mean I hope I'm wrong, but all indications seem to indicate otherwise. At this point I guess we are just fortunate if we get Taro on January 16th.

[UltramanGoji]

Jeez, with a preface like that I was expecting total cancellation of the lineup.

I don't think many people will be upset with a minor delay.

[eabaker]

Yeah, if they were releasing them at one series per month, I'd end up with quite a viewing backlog pretty fast...

[daveblackeye15]

Phew! I got all worried there. Oh no a delay! I mean at least Leo and 80 or at Toku or Tubi or wherever.
Oh and gave the Ultra Galaxy site a shot and ordered some shirts.
https://ultraman.merchmake.com/site/mystore?page=2

Decided to get the Matt Frank shirts and the awesome Art Adams cover.

[o.supreme]

Actually one series per month was a nice pace back when it was happening. I've been without anything since I finished watching RB the end of October. I have the Malay DVD of Taro , and it's not like I can't find them online. It's more like waiting for the MC release. Sure I can watch Taro Leo & 80 now, and then just put the BRD on my shelf because when they do come out I will have watched them recently so what's the point?

Its not the first delay, it's a long range of several delays. I'm not even upset at MC, I'm just frustrated at the situation in general.

[Angilasman]

I'm fine with a few months between releases. Taro comes out in a few weeks and I'm only halfway through Ace and have all of Ginga and R/B to watch.

[Lecontinentperdu]

Just out of curiosity: how many of you stick to Showa ? That's what i'm doing, new shows don't attract me at all... And even in Showa, i think i might be bored before the end of Leo. Just saw the first episode of Return, and the "same old" feeling is slowly coming. I loved the creativity and freedom of the first three shows, but i'm afraid that the building of a franchise (a contrived one considering the abstract nature of the ultra concept) is going to irritate me...

[eabaker]

Just out of curiosity: how many of you stick to Showa ? That's what i'm doing, new shows don't attract me at all... And even in Showa, i think i might be bored before the end of Leo. Just saw the first episode of Return, and the "same old" feeling is slowly coming. I loved the creativity and freedom of the first three shows, but i'm afraid that the building of a franchise (a contrived one considering the abstract nature of the ultra concept) is going to irritate me...

Obviously I can't tell you what your response is going to be, but I can tell you that I had some of that same-old feeling going into Return (although I think the first episode is one of the best premiers an Ultra series ever had, that's more down to refining the formula than to anything groundbreaking it did), but that overall the execution was consistently strong enough - with a few genuine standouts sprinkled in - to keep me relatively engaged throughout. And then Ace was an absolute delight, revisiting the earlier characters and building a larger Ultra world without feeling contrived or beholden to those shows, just doing its own new epic yet light weight fantasy thing.

YMMV, of course, but having seen most of the Showa stuff at this point, I'd say each show has enough of its own unique approach that it's worth keeping going with them.

Also, while I am primarily a fan of the Showa entries, I've really enjoyed a few of the Heisei ones as well, and I plan to check out pretty much everything. The only New Generation stuff I've seen is Neo Ultra Q ,which I highly recommend; and the Ginga franchise, which I had fun with, but would definitely not put on the level of the Showa series or the better Heisei ones. Certainly it's been rare - not unheard of, but rare - for any of the post-Showa stuff to capture what was so appealing tonally and aesthetically about those shows.

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Where Return stands out to me is the two part episodes. I'm sticking with Showa and the Heisei stuff myself. Anything from Ultra Galaxy and beyond has little interest to me.

[daveblackeye15]

I'm jumping around. I've taken a break from Ace, about more than halfway through. I went to R/B while watching Z weekly. Now on a break from Ultra stuff to watch Super Sentai Go Go V but I also need to re-watch Geed's movie and see the R/B movie.

Anyway there are good things and bad things with modern and old Ultra shows. I can't see quite a good narrative like Orb or a character like Juggler appearing in Showa Ultra shows but at the same time we don't quite get the savageness like the sad Return of Ultraman episode. Plus I can't blame people for not liking transforming Ultras.

[goji1986]

Where Return stands out to me is the two part episodes. I'm sticking with Showa and the Heisei stuff myself. Anything from Ultra Galaxy and beyond has little interest to me.

Z is quite honestly the best Ultra series in years, highly recommend you check it out. I think one of the more frustrating aspects of the newer series has been the never-ending transformation sequences and various configurations of a single Ultra hero...it screams "BUY MORE TOYS"!! With Z, while that is still the case, they were able to poke fun at it from time to time. Plus the effects were envelope-pushing, with plenty of fantastic detailed miniatures (shot very competently) mixed with CG that may not have been "realistic" but was inventive in such a way that I was consistently wowed. Credit to series director Kiyotaka Taguchi, who directed several standalone episodes in series past that always featured some kind of unique VFX work.

I will definitely be picking this show up whenever it comes out here.

[Vakanai]

Last one I got was Neo Ultra Q. Am I correct the only ones to come out since is the big Ginga pack and R/B? Gonna spend my Christmas money catching up on this.

[daveblackeye15]

Yeah I think it was Neo Ultra Q, Ginga and R/B. Then Taro in January.

[o.supreme]

I received a notice this afternoon that Taro will ship on time so that is good news. I should have it on the 12th. Now just waiting for news on future releases.

[gvamp]

I received a notice this afternoon that Taro will ship on time so that is good news. I should have it on the 12th. Now just waiting for news on future releases.

Got my notification from Amazon too that it'll be here on the 12th assuming the post office has all the kinks worked out by then.