Ultra Galaxy Legend

It's about time I think I got around to actually reviewing Ultra Galaxy Legend. After all, I've been a little lax in my blogging lately, and it seems Sci-Fi Japan actually got in before me on this, Damn them. However I must confess that I found their review a little.... lacking somehow. So obviously it's up to me to do better. Or at least (once everyones stopped laughing) do my version.

The version I bought was the all singing, all dancing hyper mega ultra combo limited edition version, that comes boxed with a disc of extras and books of script and story board, all which is fascinating if you can actually read and speak Japanese. If you can't then probably less so. Just for the record I can't, but I'm to big an Ultra nerd to pass this up. In all seriousness the storyboards are quite interesting, and the extras do give you a bit more insight into the production, but the fact that the english subtitles don't extend to anything beyond the main feature does limit you a bit. It's worth noting however that you do at least get an interview with the composer conducted in english, since he's american, and that's quite interesting. But unless you're either hard core or multi-lingual you're probably better advised sticking with the regular edition, since you can pick it up SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than this deluxe version.

The issue of subtitles is of next highest priority. Now, if you're anything like me then you'll realise the term "english subtitles" is not actually as descriptive as many people would believe. It ranges from accurate, detailed translations conveying the nuances of a scene into a new language all the way to the sort of random word salad you see everyday in your email spam folder, albeit with less mentions of the word penis. Depending on what sort of thing your watching anyway. The subtitles here are actually very good. Not exactly litteral or verbatim (I can recognize enough Japanese words to know that at least), but conveying the necessary information and emotions. Which is what you'd hope for really. Subtitles are a tricky art, and word for word literalism seldom works. To get subtitles of this standard on a Japanese is a blessing, as you'd appreciate if you ever saw the standard on the copy of Armour Of Darkness I've got.

So, we can understand the story. But what of the story itself? Is it actually any good? This is where it gets a little trickier. In part because I'm such a massive raving fanboy, and in part because this is a film with a job to do. It's quite obvious that the idea here is to link from what has come before (Ultraman Mebius, Ultra Galaxy) into what is yet to come in the shape of Ultraman Zero. And when you're dealing with over 40 years of a shows history that's an awful lot to get in without alienating anyone unfamiliar with the franchise (I hear there's people like that out there somewhere, though how they can bare to go on living is frankly beyond me). To be fair the film does as good as one might hope in this respect. The old, mid and new school all get their bit to do, and in the end everyone gets to make some contribution to the battle. A lot of the problems are avoided simply by stripping down the available cast of Ultramen fairly quickly as Ultraman Belial slices his way through almost every Ultraman going in a series of split second cameos before freezing the Ultra homeworld solid. For an Ultra fan those opening fight scences are pure joy. It's great just trying to spot all the Ultras, let alone they pleasure of such a long, dramatic fight. And it's on the ULTRA HOMEWORLD!!!

The glimpses we get of the Ultramens home are simply gorgeous, all crytal and light. It's interesting to note that pretty much the entire film was shot on greenscreen. Whilst this does make a certain amount of sense when trying realise anything on the scale of the Ultrahomeworld it was a little unexpected in other instances. After all, they've had more than a few years experience in creating desolate wasteland sets for men in suits to stomp around on. It's not, however, particularly obtrusive CGI. Such as the Star Wars prequels gave us at times. Yes, there are moments when it's a bit obvious, but in all honesty I didn't really notice first time I watched it. I was a bit bust being enthralled. I think the fact that they're employing more traditional means for the monsters themselves helps to ground the visuals slightly. Using greenscreen in this way does allow for some very creative and dynamic action sequences however. The shot where Rei first summons Gomora is one of my favorites in the whole film. I guess there are still some people who would prefer all digital creatures over the tradtional physical effects approach, but they are merely souless husks that once were men and feed on the blood of children, so who cares what they think? The monsters look good, and are composited into their digital environments well. I'm not actually 100% sure if there really are 100 monsters used though, but then I haven't been through it with a checklist, stopwatch and pause button yet. There are however definitely a hell of a lot. Much like the prceding Ultra Galay TV series they appear to be taking advantage of the number of suits they have in storage from recent series. There's an extra DVD I found on ebay that (I think) claimed to give a rundown of all 100 Monsters. However it was lacking quite a a few that were actually on screen, so go figure. Either way it looks pretty amazing having that many monsters on screen at a time (whatever number it finally turns out to be), though it does mean that the inverse ninja principle kicks in. Still, such is life.

Anyway, back to the plot. As I said it does have a lot to do, but achieves it well enough. There perhaps some areas where things could flow a little more smoothly, but with so many disperate elements to draw together there's no specific examples that spring to mind for improvement. The parallels between Belial and Zero are certainly quite interesting, though nothing I can really get into without going all spoilery. It's kind of odd that much of the film doesn't feature Zero at all, but then the whole point s to build up to him I suppose. You certainly get some sense of his character though, and the prospect of getting a full series with him is rather exciting. Belial makes for a good villain as well, basically being the anti-Ultraman. He stands for everything we don't stand for if you get what I mean. Needless to say, you can't keep a good villain down, and I'm quite sure he'll be back as well. I suppose the only real concern with the film is how it would be recieved by newcomers. This is kind of tricky for me to judge, seeing as how I found it to be about an hour and half of rock solid erection. It does suffer a little by being a direct sequel to several other series. Obviously Ultra Galaxy, but more specifically the Ultraman Mebius: Ghost Reverse DVDs; which as I understand it set up the beginning of the film and the Giga-Battlenizer quite directly. However I haven't seen them since I've yet to locate a subtitled version. However you do get just enough exposition in the film itself to get by with. Indeed, there's one scene which functions on a few levels, with Mirai explaining Ultraman history to Rei thus filling in the plot for the characters, the background for the newbies and giving the old-school types a nice glimpse at Ultra history. Certainly I doubt the target audience will have any major problems, since they're all about 8 and are given more than enough giant monster action to satisfy. Indeed, this is an action film in every sense, and I doubt 20 minutes go by without at least some sort of fight happening. It's pretty relentless, but maintains excitement and interest throughout. Were I introducing someone to the franchise cold I might be tempted to go with Great Decisive Battle: The Superior 8 Ultra Brothers as it does take a slightly more celebratory approach to the franchise as a whole. This is however a good jumping on point, which I think is rather what it's meant to be. The only major problem being the unavailability of the source material which may natuarally wish to move onto after watching. At least in any official or intelligable fashion.

However the simple fact that this release contains proper english subtitles is a mark of hope. These days the whole regional thing is increasingly irrelevant, and the fact that local distribution companies unwilling to pick up a title isn't much of an impediment. The only thing stopping us is the language barrier. And I have a pile of Ultraman festival DVDs to dispute even that. You put subtitles on the discs and we'll buy them. You can have our money if you want it. Hell, you can have our damn ORGANS. I'd give a kidney for a subtitled release of Ultra Q, easy.