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Post by Zone Fighter on Jun 20, 2006 4:58:31 GMT -8
Thanks to Arislan www.arislan.net/henshin/ I've now seen the first 4 episodes of Ultraman Taro. This shows almost a parody. The ZAT characters are rather goofy. The aircraft look like what they are, miniatures. Ultraman Taro is created by Ultra Mother and the Ultra brothers Ultraman, Zofy, Ultraseven, Ultraman Jack and Ultraman Ace. Ultramother appears in episode 3 to heal a wounded Taro and to help him destroy the monster. In episode 4 Taro is on the wrong side. The monsters are cousins to Gamera and the Dark's Silver Tortoise. These two giant turle monsters can pull into their shells fly and drop bombs. Their eggs are stolen and they target the men who stole them in revenge. In my opinion the men got what they deserved for trying to abduct the giant turtles which were peaceful creatures not bothering anybody and running off with their eggs. Unfortunantly this story continues into episode 5 which I don't have. From the preview for episode 5 it seems the eggs will hatch and Ultraseven will be making an appearance. Taro's henshin device, the Ultra Badge, seems to have a mind of its own. It was given to Kotaro Higashi as a "good luck charm" by a woman who it turns out was Ultra Mother. The badge flashes and only then does he use it to transform. Kotaro Higashi joins ZAT and is killed in his first combat. The Ultra brothers carry off his body and when they return him to Earth he becomes Ultraman Taro for the first time. I don't know how another ZAT member knew to call him Ultraman Taro in episode 2. Ultraman Taro (introduced Ultra Mother) followed Ultraman Ace (introduced Ultra Father) and proceeded Ultraman Leo (introduced Ultraman King). Ultraman Taro ran April 6, 1973 through April 5, 1974. At 53 episodes appears to be the longest running Ultraman series. The first was only 39 episodes.
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Post by Xenorama ™ on Jun 20, 2006 18:10:23 GMT -8
i didn't like Taro much at first, but after seeing the series on VCD, in pseudo English i quite enjoy it. it's always a treat to see the older Ultras show up, and there's a two-parter later on with the original actors as well. lots of fun!
Cosmos ran 65 episodes, but until that Taro was the longest running.
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Post by RedKing on Jun 22, 2006 18:31:46 GMT -8
I like Taro alot as well. In fact, dare I say it, I like his design the best of all the Ultras. Some of the monsters are rather goofy(Roadera comes to mind in particular, but there are lots of others) but there were also alot of cool monsters as well-Astromons and Tyrant are among my favorites, and I really enjoyed seeing Mephiras and Eleking return(the fight with Mephiras especially, with Taro punching right through him-very cool!).
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Post by Zone Fighter on Jun 28, 2006 16:20:51 GMT -8
I forgot to mention that in ZAT the men and women wear different uniforms. The women's uniform seems designed to hide their breasts but emphasise their legs. The team's commander wears a uniform that is the same as the other men except the band that goes across the chest and over the soldiers is gold and black instead of their white and red. Like the other groups in Ultraman series ZAT has connections to a larger military and that causes some trouble in episode 5.
Episode 5: This should have been an Ultraman Cosmos episode, it would have played out very differently. Queen Tortoise is killed and all but one of her eggs destroyed, because of the Navy. Ultraman Taro is in trouble when he's attacked by King Tortoise and the surviving baby. He doesn't want to fight them but they don't understand that. He carries Queen Tortoise's body into space. The baby can't fly so Ultra Seven appears to carry it and King Tortoise follows his child and deceased mate away from Earth. Ultraman Taro returns to Earth alone. The final scene shows two giant tortoise and one slightly smaller one alive and well. My guess is the Mother of Ultras (head of the Silver Cross) was able to revive Queen Tortoise.
Episode 6: An acid spitting slug vaporizes a dog. The monsters in this show seem to have it in for dogs. Later Kotaro zaps the slug with his laser, giving the slug the energy bust it needed to become a giant monsters. Our hero, goofed!
Episode 7:First it was Gamera's relatives now its Ebira's. A giant crab is a threat to shipping. Three male ZAT members land their aircraft on what they think is a small island. They don't take their job very seriously. Two strip to their underwear and go for a swim, the other tries to catch fish. Eventually they realise that their island is actually the back of a monster. The giant crab and a giant octopus fight. The crab defeats the octopus and then has to face ZAT and Ultraman Taro. The crab nearly wins again.
Episode 8: In this episode ZAT gains a new man and at the end one of the women gets to fly the aircraft and fire missizles at the monster. A young boy phone ZAT to report a monster in a lake. They treat his call as a joke. I don't know why. Later when a police officer reports that the monster has swalled the boy's father, and ZAT appears on the scene, the boy is understandably angry at them.
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Post by Zone Fighter on Jul 5, 2006 16:27:43 GMT -8
Episode 9: Fire spitting ants (or maybe they're termites) are causing buildings to fall down. Two boys are the first to see the bugs. They try to warn people in a building that's about to colapse but the occupants won't listen. The boys are eventually able to reach ZAT and ZAT empties the building just in time. Ultraman Taro battles a giant fire and acid spitting bug.
Episode 10: Kotaro Higashi is training for a boxing match. His starvation diet has him seeing food where no food is. His bath is interrupted by water shooting out of the tub, caused by a burrowing monster. ZAT manages to destroy the monster, which looks like a walrus to me, but it regenerates itself and reappears as ZAT members are watching Kotaro box. They sneak out to deal with the monster, without him. After the match, Kotaro stuffs himself than becomes Ultraman Taro to finish off the monster.
Episode 11: Two police officers are killed by something unseen. The next day a little girl picks some flowers. Kotaro Higashi and his friends help the lost girl find her way home. She gives Kotaro's friends some of the flowers. At night Kotaro's friends are nearly killed by a creeping vine. The little girls mother throws the rest of the flowers in the trash. A vine grows out the garbage and kills the mother. Later Kotaro finds the girl giving away flowers to strangers. Kotaro warns the people about the flowers. He and another ZAT member find the plant and try to pull it out of the ground. This makes the plant angry and it transforms into a giant monster.
Episode 12: Drilling disturbs a sleepig monster, which causes a small earthquak, during which a young boy's father vanishes. Already on the scene, Kotaro, calls ZAT in to investigate. The boy, Takeshi, turns on the drill to make the monster come up so he can take revenge on it. Of course his throwing rocks at the monster just angers it. ZAT's shooting it does nothing to improve its mood. This monster is the second one not harmed by Ultraman Taro's energy weapon.
Episode 13: A sea monster is minding its own buisness, bothering nobody, taking a nap at the bottom of the ocean when it gets hit in the mouth by a ZAT torpedo. The device does not detonate. Unable to dislodge this irittant from between its teeth, the monster becomes annoyed. Meanwhile the mother of one of the ZAT members decided to pay him a visit. Using a ZAT aircraft Kotaro Higashi attempts to remove the foreign object from the monster's mouth but he makes a mistake and pulls a tooth instead. The pain enraged monster goes on a rampage which puts the ZAT officer's mother in danger. This monster is the third not harmed by Ultraman Taro's energy weapon. Having a reoccuring tooth ache my sympathies were with the poor monster and was angry at Taro and ZAT for killing it. Another Ultraman Taro story that would have a happier ending had it been a Ultraman Cosmos episode instead.
Episode 14: A construction crew's blasting uncovers a small statue. When the statue is removed from the hillside it causes those who removed it to have nightmares and then it awakens a giant warrior, armed with a sword and shield, which bursts from the hill. ZAT is unable to even slow this monster down. Ultraman Taro fails against it as well, until he creates an illusion of himself which tricks the monster into thinking it killed him.
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