Promotional flyer announcing the ULTRA N PROJECT, the big relaunch of the Ultraman franchise. Photo courtesy of Tsuburaya Pro. ©2004 Tsuburaya Productions Co., Ltd.
Author: James Ballard Sources: Illustrated Who`s Who of Ultra Series, Matsu-Red`s Home Page, Henshin! Online, 5 Shadows Special Thanks to August Ragone, Bob Johnson, Keith Aiken, and Elliot Gay 2004 was an exciting year for giant monster fans. With the hype surrounding Toho’s 50th anniversary and allegedly “last” Godzilla movie - GODZILLA: FINAL WARS (2004) - also came a surge of dual-language Region 1 DVD releases, the first ever U.S. release of the uncut GODZILLA (1954) from Rialto Pictures, and some spectacular U.S. theatrical events such as the Egyptian Theatre’s “Godzilla 50th Anniversary Tribute”, the Hollywood Theatre’s “50 Years of Godzilla” festival and Bay Area Film Events’ Godzillafest at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. However, while most eyes were squarely focused on Godzilla, many overlooked the happenings at Tsuburaya Productions, where a complete re-envisioning of their popular ULTRA franchise was well underway. Leading up to Tsuburaya’s
