Captain Ultra (Japanese superhero)
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Captain Ultra (キャプテンウルトラ - Kyaputen Urutora) is the titular intergalactic hero of a pulp-style tokusatsu science fiction space adventure series. Produced by Toei Company Ltd., the series aired on Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) from April 16 to September 24, 1967, with a total of 24 episodes. The show is titled Space Tokusatsu Series: Captain Ultra (宇宙特撮シリーズ キャプテンウルトラ - Uchû Tokusatsu Shirîzu: Kyaputen Urutora).
This series is based loosely on Captain Future, the pulp science fiction saga created by the influential Edmond Hamilton. This was not the only time his work was adapted in Japan: Captain Future was adapted into an anime series in 1978, and that same year, Tsuburaya Productions adapted his Starwolf novels into a tokusatsu sci-fi action series of the same title.
Originally, this series was aired by TBS right after the end of the original Ultraman show as the "official" follow up to said series, even though it really wasn't. Ultra Seven aired on TBS more than a week after this series ended.
While not as well known in Japan, some Japanese fans also compare the looks of Captain Ultra to that of Captain Scarlet, the title hero of Sylvia and Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation series, Captain Scarlet & The Mysterons (which had been shown in Japan around the same time).
[edit] Characters
- Captain Ultra (Hirohisa Nakata) - The hero.
- Huck (Jiro Sagawa) - Captain Ultra's robot companion.
- Joe (Nenji Kobayashi) - Captain Ultra's alien friend from Planet Kikero.
- Akane (Yuki Jono) - Captain Ultra's beautiful space cadet. Has assorted secret agent gadgets.
- Kenji (Shigeru Yasunaka) - Captain Ultra's eager young boy space cadet.
- Professor Munamoto (Ichiro Izawa) - The scientific expert for our heroes.
