It was with a great deal of excitement that I read the email from my future brother-in-law regarding a long lost part of my childhood TV history. He informed me that Ultraman was coming to DVD.
Like many people my age that grew up with the UHF channels in the Philadelphia area, shows like Ultraman, Johnny Socko and His Giant Robot and other shows that can be pointed to as the precursor for shows like the Power Rangers.
It came as no surprise to me that all three boys enjoyed watching these shows with the youngest falling completely in love with the entire concept of a giant man from outerspace coming to save the day.
If you found yourself craving this piece of history and didn’t want to chance buying a badly packaged bootleg you can find it here. I’ll warn you now that it isn’t put together very well, the audio drops in and out, the edits seem bad and you may be surprised to see it drop the english dubs completely. The points when the Japanese takes over are pieces of the show that were cut for the version shown in the US so don’t get too upset about that. In fact, if you turn on the subtitles, the story can change and more detail can be gleamed from the original Japanese script.
People that listen closely will hear the voices of the same team that voiced the Speed Racer series.
The next volume of the series is set for release on October 10, 2006.
Walk into my house just about any night of the week recently and you will find Spiderman battling any number of green faced enemies to the back beat of late 60′s hippy rock music. As a kid this series was one of my favorites. When it caught my eye during some Christmas shopping I added it to our list with a strange look from my wife. I knew the power of this spider. Initially the kids didn’t seem all that interested and my wife began to suspect that this purchase was more for me than for them. About 2 weeks ago Spiderman redeemed me. Now when I pop in any one of the six DVDs from this set they all settle down and watch the adventures of Peter Parker.
For the uninitiated this series would appear to be horrid. The animation is very limited and in many instances it repeats itself over and over. The first 20 or so episodes are truly the best as I can only assume that the producers of this show ran out of money at some point and began to use the same animations over and over again. One episode in particular features almost 4 minutes of Spiderman swinging from point to point in town via the same 5 scenes.
The early stories are fun and outdated by today’s standards. In one episode Spiderman is seen adding asbestos to his web fluid and the scenes featuring hippies of the 60s will be lost on the kids of today. Even the amazing abilities of Spiderman get a boost in some of these episodes. His web acts almost like a prehensile limb in many situations. I must say that while watching the series with my kids there are several moments where I would laugh out loud at either the dialog or other silly action.
If you’ve never seen the series I don’t think I would recommend it for viewing. If you recall the theme song – which Son #2 has memorized completely – then I would encourage you to pick it up. Especially if you have kids.
Son #1 and I put the finishing touches on this contraption last night. It will sit in The Man Room next to our inherited TV. Well after Son #1 went to bed, I sat on the floor, Star Wars Episode I playing in the background (hey, I like it, back off) attaching the glass doors and peeling off the stickers that identified the parts.
After pushing it alongside the TV I came to a startling conclusion. I am a furniture snob!
In the distant past, before we had kids, my wife and I would spend weekends canvassing antique shows. While my wife quickly honed in on one particular style of antique (let’s call it peelly / chippy) my tastes were broader. Even if I did not like the particular style, I could certainly appreciate the craftsmanship of these early American artisans. Lucky for us, we live in what was the hotbed of colonial American furniture making. Some of the greatest works of 17th and 18th century furniture were created right in Philadelphia. This makes it a little easier to find well made furniture of that era. My wife and I are proud owners of several pieces of furniture made in the early 1800s. Anything earlier than that is out of our price range.
Getting back to the new A/V cabinet – it’s hard to believe this is where functional furniture has gone.
I’ll never get over just how heavy the fiberboard they use is. There is nothing nicer than a piece of furniture that is made out of real wood.
Anyway, tonight I will move the three existing pieces of my Home Theater into the cabinet (Receiver, DVD player, VCR). I need to order another receiver for the Dish so that we can watch TV in the basement. I’ll tuck the Game Cube in the secret little chamber in the bottom of the cabinet. I will also hook the Cube into the receiver – I wonder how it will sound through my system?
