Zone Fighter (1973) - Ultra Gaiden
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- čas přidán 2. 08. 2024
- In this new spinoff of Ultra Retrospective, I take a look at an incredibly Ultraman-adjacent show starring a man of the Zone variety, as well as his best friend... Godzilla!?
Check out my Patreon for early access to more tokusatsu reviews.
/ zagorudan
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
1:49 - Premise & Production Details
3:41 - Characters & Villains
7:58 - The Hero
10:03 - GODZILLA
11:56 - The Original Kaiju
13:50 - Hoo boy, the rest of the show
20:58 - Music :D
21:30 - Uh oh!
24:10 - Zone Fighter's Legacy & Concluding Thoughts
27:07 - Patron readout.
Sources:
wikizilla.org/wiki/Zone_Fight...)
ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B5%...
wikizilla.org/wiki/Akihiko_Ig...
kaijukompendium.design.blog/u...
www.scifijapan.com/superheroe...
www.tohokingdom.com/tv/zone_f...
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For further reading, www.copyright.gov/title17/92c... - Zábava
Check out the Ultra Retrospective playlist for more reviews like this on actual Ultraman shows.
czcams.com/play/PLiLVzRuysz88wWUAy5XObQ0iQaEHLVGCw.html
Hi there ZaGorudan. Love your channel. Enjoy this video on Zone Fighter. I've been doing my own version of this series. It has a definitive beginning, a two parter. The first part involves Zone Fighter fighting Gigan in Tokyo. Takeru Jo, the Zone Family's friend and toy store owner, is now an undercover agent for Interpol who learns of their secret and helps them on occasion. Instead of Peaceland being the name of the planet from where they hail from, it's called planet Pax. I haven't figured out the second part yet. I added more episodes to the series, coming at about 38. from episodes 30 to 38, many of the toho monsters show up, like Rodan, Gigan upgraded with a new weapon, King Kong, and a two parter involving Jet Jaguar. Also Zone Fighters sister, "Zone Angel" is now able to transform into a giant form too. A few episodes involve monster sent by the Garoga call "X" that can shapeshift. In the last two episodes, Zone Angel and Godzilla save Zone Fighter from a robot monster Garugan.
Several U.S. companies have wanted to release "Zone Fighter" here in the States, but none of them were willing to pay the costs Toho was demanding for the rights.
The fact that Toho's official stance on the show is that it's in the same continuity as the rest of the showa Godzilla films just make this show even more of a fever dream.
Like this happen for a year, there was no conclusion, and was never brought up again is fucking hilarious to me.
And there were a few times that Gigan was planned to return in 70s films that didn't get made, and every one of the scripts dealt with Gigan being resurrected somehow. King Ghidorah is the only monster not killed by Zone's Meteor Missile Might attack and that is explicitly because he had to still be alive in 1999 for "Destroy All Monsters."
My head canon says the Garagos just.....gave up. The last episode they used their top tier fighters that merged into one monster and they still lost.
There's even an earlier scene where a Garage leader shows up and says it's odd you are caring so much for such a small planet, so perhaps they finally took that to heart and just gave up to focus on going after other planets.
Don't forget Earth also has Godzilla which foils their plans.
Plus, those aliens that came later with Mechagodzilla probably scared them off.
Yeah you think Zone Fighter would help Godzilla with Mechagodzilla here
I like to to imagine Jet Jaguar watching from a distance with the “dumped” theme from SpongeBob playing in the background whenever Godzilla and Zone Fighter are together.
Lol
Jet Jaguar: Godzilla?….. I THOUGHT WHAT WE HAD WAS SPECIAAAAAAALL!!!!
And yet ironically (mostly due to his popularity in America), Jet Jaguar has actually appeared in video games and that Netflix anime, something that Zone Fighter can't boast about.
Seriously, why HASN'T Zone Fighter appeared in any Godzilla video games?
@@otaking3582Right? And what makes that even more sad is that apparently Zone Fighter ALMOST appeared as a playable fighter in the Godzilla PS4 game from 2014.
@@otaking3582Jet Jaguar should cross over with Zone Fighter
find a crazy how this is the show where canonically Gigan dies, I mean it explains why he is not in destroy all monsters lol
When I was in Tokyo a couple of months ago, there were new Zone Fighter gashapon machines. I got an acrylic Godzilla keychain from it. So maybe Toho is testing the waters a bit?
7:50 consider the planet is called "peaceland", I won't be suprised if its people didn't fight back until their planet literally blew up.
I still love how Fighter can just fly through a TV and end up in the place being shown on screen somehow. When I first saw it I could barely breathe. I love how ungodly silly showa era super hero shows can be. It’s charming.
Ultraman Ace literally did that as well so they were copying that
Why doesn’t he fight any zoning disputes????? I feel like this is false advertising.
All I know about this show is that Showa Gigan fricken died in this show. Forever. What.
In several of the scripts that didn't get made for more 70s Godzilla movies, Gigan was planned to return and the stories all had to deal with him being resurrected in some way.
17:47 Ghidorah's Greatest Attack: Turning on the Breaking Bad Yellow Filter!
He’s the one who knocks.
Zone Fighter's Godzilla crossovers were how I learned of this show's existence
Thank you for making this. Even if Zone never comes back, he is a part of Godzilla history and to a lesser extent kaiju history.
OH boy, we now have an excuse to talk about the fever dream that is Redman.
Zone Fighter (along with Angel and
Junior) did get a brief cameo in the Easter Egg filled credits of Godzilla: Singular Point, and I think they recently made some official keychains of him and some of the Terror Beasts.
OH YEA I FORGOR
@@ZaGorudan is it embarrassing that you also showed singular point footage?
@@0H00C No? That's what Goji has been up to these days.
@@ZaGorudan Thankyou for replying
Zone Fighter, aka the origin of those weird clips of Godzilla boxing Gigan to death in the Godzilla Numa Numa video
Talk about a very deep cut
@@SHINOBI-03 That video was my gateway to kaiju and toku stuff in 2006 or 2007
A good example of how much Godzilla carries this show, is that back in the day (early 00's) when I just got into Kaiju media, I had to use alternative ways to find godzilla and ultra shows. And well, the only 5 eps of Zone fighter that I ever saw, were the ones with Godzilla in it. Any other zone fighter footage I saw, was from a bunch of Zone fighter music videos, with Rob Zombie music in the background (gotta love old school youtube).
Also, I really hope you cover Specterman one day. That show is one hilariously low budget, weirdly brutal, and somewhat anti-pollution adventure. I remember watching it back in the day in it's uncensored version (dubbed into some language I don't understand), and one two parter freaked me the hell out. Like one episode had some guys dog be turned into a Kaiju (and the dog kaiju caught a nurse, bit her head off, and threw the body at the main character), and Specterman killed tha kaiju despite the man begging for his dog not to be killed. And in the next episode, that man gets turned into a big headed vampire monster, he eats some random woman's brains, and then gets put out of his misery by Specterman. Man, Early 70's kids shows were brutal.
1:06 man...... that didn't age quite so well.
“You want a Godzilla themed hot sauce right?”
Me: fuck yes I do.
I look forward to you one day covering Iron King, easily one of the best Ultraman clones out there.
Currently ten episodes into it. I'm inclined to agree so far!
13:00 "Draw, you varmint!"
When you get to Spectreman, don't forget to watch the live action Cromartie High movie. Where Dr. Gori shows up. And it's not like a little cameo, he's just in it for like most of the movie. It's great.
The Garogas are the stormtroopers of tokusatsu
Now that’s a video series I totally support !!!
"Monster of Justice"
...
I need to go lay down now.
Ugh god it frustrates the hell out of me how Toho seemingly refuses to release this series.
This was such a weird show but honestly could have gone to even wackier places had it had more episodes.
My feelings are pretty much in line with yours; it's a potentially entertaining show bogged down by too much story/character/pacing issues to fully recommend. Which is a shame, because as you said, there was a mythical quality to it back in the early days of this "mysterious chapter in the Godzilla series" that was very appealing. While I do have a soft spot for the show, it's plagued with cramming too much that detracts from the experience.
Still, at least it isn't Godman. ;)
I really do wish they revisit Wargilgar and Spyler, they're arguably some of the best kaiju from the Zone fighter series and would be great to see return in some form for some Godzilla media, be it comics, a show, or even by some massive leap of faith, a film.
Great review! I remember I went absolutely bonkers when I first heard about this series in 2003 lol. I was so excited to find out that there was more showa Goji stories out there with a Ultraman like character and Gigan plus Ghidorah to top it off. I had a absolute blast watching it. I hope that the series gets a proper official US release one day
Zone Fighter in the Scarlet Mist Incident
Keep truckin’ brother!
It's crazy that Gigan's canonical death happens in this show
can't wait for the inevitable gridman universe videos
I jumped on this video thanks to recognition of it from the Encyclopedia Godzilla by Ed Godziewski.(sp?)
God I love the humor in your videos... you funnny :3
I would have loved to have seen jet jaguar making a cameo in this series.
Mitsuko who played Minami had a horri ble time on set. They bullied her and would hide her costumes from her and she said her props would literally be thrown at her sometimes. They did basically end up firing her. They told her that her stepping down from the show would be a step up for the production.
fuck really?????????
FUCK THAT SO MUCH
You commented on the wrong video, but wow that’s sad. I know a lot of the reason she left has because kids couldn’t insert themselves into the role when playing games with Ace.
"They filmed in someone's backyard." Imao I love that line💀
24:53 Zone Fighter Hot Sauce when
26:51 yeah…I get that lmao
I do think during Zone Fighter was running and all the copycat shows and giant monster movies going down, I think it could be the popularity of Kamen Rider was rising at that time, and was more successful than those genres of Toku that were airing that time.
and then Toho made their own take on Toei's Metal Hero with their Cyber Cop and their own take on Super Sentai with their Chouseishin series (Gransazer, Justirizer, and Sazer-X).
Johnny Sokko and his giant robot
Amazing work! Keep it up.
I hope you eventually talk about Godman and Greenman.
I always loved Brain Tank Claw Guy. And the ball dude
Excellent Documentary!
zone have slaps opening
Interesting series.
22:40
IRON KING MENTIONED
You when going over how I would have done the Godzilla series I’ve thought I would have made this, Godman and Green Man a Jet Jaguar TV show, how would any of you felt about that?
THE SPACE GIANTS AND JOHNNY SOKKO were great giant robot tv shows. I was very lucky to watch these
I would like it if the Ultra series had some monster ally to help in fights, like with Godzilla in this show.
Edit: Since in this Ultra Gaiden you will talk about shows that resemble the Ultra franchise, will you talk about Redman?
Gomora has played that role semi-recently.
@@ConstantineFurman Not to mention Miclas, Jean Nine, and Sevenger, among other friendly monsters.
7:48 I can only assume that people of Peaceland let the Garoga destroy their planet out of pity for them. They just wanted to give them a win, you know?
any chance you'll cover spectreman? great video btw!
It's a looooong show, but I guess it's in the cards since I showcased it. I only feel comfortable doing reviews of shows I've already seen, so it may be a while before I cover Spectreman.
The villains suffer the same issue that all villains like them have: they can’t be effective against the main cast or the show wouldn’t work.
Zone Fighter is the absolute best, well not quite but I certainly find it fun.
This show is perfection perfected.
Man has Godzilla changed since then.
It has potential and someway it really does how about instead of a TV show an hour long movie short delved in English on Netflix movie he hasn’t been really does have potential I wish people would pay more attention to this thing❤Says the Wolf
Metron neck snap 8:27
PLEASE, ON GOD OR HIS DEATH ANGEL GOJI do iron king
Why didn't you mention the fact that the father is portrayed by the same actor of captain Kiriyama from Ultraseven?
I forgor
Cool
Rumors were that more Toho monsters were going to appear like Angurius and a two Parter with the Garoga taking control of Jet Jaguar at a robotics fair with a Zone Fighter vs Jet Jaguar fight
That was an April fools joke made years ago on Toho kingdom website.
@@ethanreynolds3522 it was?
@@goimei Yes. Just go onto google and type in Toho Kingdom April Fools Day 2018 page. You will see.
@@goimei Just go onto Google and type in Toho Kingdom April Fools Day 2018, read the article and you'll see.
I hope you can cover super human samurai syber sauad and 4kids Ultraman Tiga dub
Maybe the Zonians are naturally mild, and the the zone family were outliers in their capacity to do anything. They're probably very flavorful for zonians, but terribly bland compared to humans.
….. aw
Why does the transformers character Powerhug have the same color scheme as that cursed ball kaiju?
Fans are putting this show on a very high pedestal just for the Godzilla connection but take him out of the show and it's a pretty average series that would've gone to obscurity if it weren't for Godzilla.
My discovery of Zone Fighter ranks up there with Japanese Spider-Man, basically a..."wtf this exists? How did I not know about tnis??" initial reaction 😂
As well as finding out the villain Hakkaider from 1972's Android Kikkaider served as one of the inspirations behind the creation of Darth Vader.
The last one is misinfo. Vader's design takes more after samurai.
@@ZaGorudan it's both.
The triangular mouthpiece, the all black attire, the cybernetic parts, the once hero turned villain then redemption arc back to hero but dies in the process, the father son angle etc.
That show was released in the US. (Hawaii) in 1974, two years after its debut.
Also it's not just the design it's the story too.
Professor Gill is basically Emperor Palpatine with his legion called DARK, Hakkaider is his unfortunate controlled warrior who turns on him and dies in the process and Kikkaider is Hakkaider's "son".
Darth means Dark in German etc
It's all there.
If one wants a watch guide for this show, frankly I would just stick to the episodes with Godzilla or other Toho kaiju: 4 (Godzilla), 5 & 6 (King Ghidorah), 11 (Godzilla & Gigan), 15, 21, and 25 (Godzilla). Not only are those the only episodes with actual decent kaiju (the original Terror Beasts frankly kinda blow), those are among the only episodes to get even SLIGHTLY interesting with the characters and plots, as if they were the only ones Toho cared about enough to actually TRY, at least.
Who got your money on?
Zonefighter with Godzilla (showa and only in show feats) or ultraseven and sevenger
26:51 what
Will you be doing Jumborg Ace anytime soon?
Not any time soon, but it will happen. The sooner it gets proper English subtitles, the better.
@@ZaGorudanGood point lol. Let’s hope it does.
Godzilla and zone fighter are best friends since the showa era then zone fighter disappeared from existence many years later zone fighter is now nothing more than a cult classic show ripping off ultraman ace both good and bad including sharing continuity with showa godzilla.
24:17 U trying to say something???
Is that purple atomic breath in the showa era? Is this like a Showa version of his red spiral beam or is this just an animation error. 20:30
100% an error
Ya I assumed so
Can you do a video of redman.spectreman and fireman
Cake
Can I just ask why most tokusatsu/Kaiju channels never really talk about Spectreman in anything other than a passing reference? I have my suspicions as to why, but I would rather hear it from them. One guess....and it's probably the most reasonable...is that they just don't like the show.
Day 28272926282629262826566 of asking for you to make a retrospective of Ultraman gia
Well if by chance you're showing up to G-Fest this year, come say hi, I'll be wandering around in my Zone Fighter cosplay, figured the big guy deserved it for his 50th anniversary. I can't help but love the show, but I tend to love the goofier end of the fandom anyway.
ate. Day BRADRSS