Ultraman is a titan. He’s the Japanese equivalent of Superman, a silver and red giant who has been suplexing monsters since 1966. But for a lot of Western fans, the entry point wasn't a subtitled VHS tape from Tokyo. It was a strange, ambitious, and surprisingly gritty Australian co-production called Ultraman Towards the Future.
It’s weird. Honestly, it’s really weird.
Released in 1990 as Ultraman Great in Japan, this thirteen-episode series was a massive gamble by Tsuburaya Productions. They wanted to go global. They wanted the "Western" look. So, they flew to South Australia, hired a local crew, and cast Dore Kraus as Jack Shindo. The result is a show that feels like a fever dream blend of Mad Max environmentalism and traditional Tokusatsu. It doesn't look like the shows that came before it, and it certainly doesn't look like the high-octane, digital-heavy Ultraman Arc or Ultraman Blazar we see today.
But here’s the thing: Ultraman Towards the Future actually aged better than most people give it credit for. While the suit acting might feel a bit slower because they were filming in high-speed to give the giants weight, the themes are heavy. We’re talking about planetary extinction, viral entities, and the cost of human progress. It wasn't just "monster of the week." It was a warning.
The Australian Connection and Why the Suits Looked So Different
If you grew up watching the original 1966 series or even Ultraman Leo, you noticed the difference immediately. The suit in Ultraman Towards the Future wasn't made of the traditional latex or rubber. It was made of spandex and integrated foam. This gave Ultraman Great a much more "organic" look, but it was a nightmare for the stunt performers.
Why Australia? Basically, Tsuburaya wanted to tap into the international market. By filming in English with a Western cast, they thought they could bypass the "foreign film" stigma that kept Tokusatsu in the niche corners of American and European television. They utilized the South Australian Film Corporation, and you can see that DNA everywhere. The landscapes aren't the miniature Japanese cityscapes we're used to; they’re vast, sweeping deserts and real outdoor locations.
It feels big. The scale is genuine. When Ultraman fights Gudis—the primary antagonist for the first half of the series—it doesn't feel like two guys on a soundstage. It feels like a biological catastrophe unfolding in the outback.
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Dealing With the Gudis: A Different Kind of Villain
Most Ultraman villains want to conquer Earth or maybe just eat a few skyscrapers. The Gudis was different. It was a virus. A sentient, space-faring cellular entity that corrupted everything it touched. This gave the show a sense of dread that usually isn't present in the more "superheroic" entries of the franchise.
Jack Shindo and his partner Kenichi Kai (who was the host for Ultraman in the Japanese version, though the names got switched around in various dubs) weren't just fighting big lizards. They were fighting a plague. This reflected the late 80s and early 90s obsession with environmental collapse. If you look at the monsters in Ultraman Towards the Future, they aren't just random aliens. Many of them are Earth’s own defense mechanisms or creatures mutated by human negligence.
- Bogan was a manifestation of greed and consumption.
- Majaba was a direct result of pesticide overuse.
- Degola was basically a weather-pattern-turned-god.
The show was hitting you over the head with a "save the planet" message, but it did so through the lens of giant martial arts. It worked.
The Technical Struggle of "Weight"
Let’s talk about the movement. If you watch a clip of Ultraman Great fighting, it looks slow. Some fans hate this. They think it's boring. However, the director, Andrew Prowse, made a conscious choice to film at a higher frame rate.
When you film a miniature at 60 or 72 frames per second and play it back at 24, things look massive. They have momentum. In the Japanese series, the fights are often fast and kinetic, like a pro-wrestling match. In Ultraman Towards the Future, every punch feels like it takes an hour to land, but when it does, the sound design makes it feel like a mountain collapsing. It’s a stylistic choice that separates the "Great" era from the "Heisei" era that would follow with Ultraman Tiga.
The suit itself was also incredibly fragile. The spandex material would tear constantly. Because they were filming in the harsh Australian sun, the heat inside those suits was unbearable. There are stories of the stunt actors nearly passing out after just a few minutes of filming. That physical toll translated into a very deliberate, almost weary fighting style for Ultraman. He wasn't a nimble ninja; he was a god-like entity struggling to maintain his form on a planet that was actively dying.
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Why Nobody Talks About the Video Game (But Should)
If you’re a certain age, you didn't learn about this show from TV. You learned about it from the Super Nintendo.
The Ultraman game on the SNES was actually based on Ultraman Towards the Future. It is notoriously one of the hardest games on the system. You had to whittle the monster's health down to zero and then hit them with the "Burning Shot" (the finisher) exactly when the word "FINISH" appeared. If you missed, the monster's health would start regenerating.
It was frustrating. It was clunky. But for many kids in the US, that was their only exposure to the Ultra Series for years. It’s funny how a somewhat obscure Australian co-production became the face of a multi-billion dollar Japanese franchise in the West for an entire decade.
The Legacy of Jack Shindo
Dore Kraus brought a weirdly soulful energy to the role of Jack Shindo. Usually, the "human host" in these shows is a hot-blooded pilot or a stoic soldier. Shindo felt like an astronaut who was genuinely traumatized by what he saw on Mars.
His relationship with the Ultra-being was more of a partnership than a possession. There was a philosophical dialogue happening. When Shindo asks Ultraman why he's helping humans when we're the ones destroying the Earth, the show doesn't give a simple "because humans are good" answer. It leaves it messy. It suggests that Ultraman is protecting the Earth as a planet, and humans just happen to be the current tenants who need to get their act together.
How to Watch It Now and What to Look For
Finding Ultraman Towards the Future used to be a chore involving blurry bootlegs. Thankfully, Mill Creek Entertainment released the series on Blu-ray a few years ago as part of their massive Ultraman licensing deal.
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When you sit down to watch it, don't expect the hyper-kinetic energy of modern Marvel movies. It’s a slow burn. Look at the cinematography. Notice how they use the natural horizon lines of the Australian desert to make the monsters look three hundred feet tall.
Also, pay attention to the score. It’s orchestral, sweeping, and sounds more like a Hollywood epic than a Saturday morning cartoon. It was composed by Christopher Gordon, who later went on to do the music for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. That’s the level of talent they were swinging for.
Why It Still Matters in 2026
We are currently in a bit of an Ultraman renaissance. With Shin Ultraman reaching global audiences and Netflix’s animated Ultraman: Rising becoming a hit, people are looking back at the history of the "Land of Light."
Ultraman Towards the Future stands as a fascinating bridge. It was the first real attempt to see if Ultraman could exist outside of Japan. It proved that the themes of the series—coexistence, environmental stewardship, and the hidden potential of humanity—work in any language and any setting.
It wasn't perfect. Some of the acting is wooden. Some of the monster suits look a bit like painted pillows. But the heart of the show is undeniable. It’s a vision of a future that we’re still trying to avoid, protected by a giant who expects more from us than we expect from ourselves.
How to get the most out of your Ultraman Great rewatch:
- Watch the English Dub first: Usually, fans demand subbed versions, but since this was filmed in English, the original performances are actually in the English track. The Japanese dub (where Ultraman is voiced by the legendary Masane Tsukayama) is cool, but you lose the local Australian flavor.
- Focus on the Gudis Arc: The first six episodes are a tight, serialized story. The second half of the season becomes more episodic, and while the monsters are cool (shoutout to Kodalar and Kilazee), the initial battle against the Gudis virus is the show's peak.
- Check the Credits: Look for the practical effects names. Many of the people who worked on this series went on to work on major Hollywood productions filmed in Australia, including The Matrix and Star Wars prequels.
- Listen for the Environmental Subtext: It’s more relevant now than it was in 1990. The "Future" the title refers to is the one we are currently living in.
The series ends on a note of cautious hope. Ultraman leaves, but he leaves the Earth in our hands. It’s a bit of a cliché, sure, but in the context of this gritty, dusty, Australian landscape, it feels earned. We aren't just waiting for a giant to save us; we're supposed to be the ones worth saving.