Ultraman Tiga (series)

Ultraman Tiga (ウルトラマンティガ) is the 12th entry in the Ultra Series, airing from September 7th to August 30th, 1996-1997. It was the first Ultra Series broadcast in Japan since 1980's Ultraman 80, it revolutionized the franchise, not to mention the great effect it had on Tokusatsu outside of Tsuburaya.

Tiga is the first Ultraman with multiple combat modes and non-red colors. Ultraman Tiga is one of the more popular shows in the Ultra Series, and hence Tiga has more exposure on TV and movies than any other Heisei Ultraman. Ultraman Tiga was also dubbed in English by 4Kids Entertainment and broadcast in the United States as part of the Fox Box programming block on Fox Broadcasting Company affiliates. This made it the fourth Ultra Series to air in the United States after Ultraman, Ultraseven, and Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero.

Plot
Set in an alternate timeline of the years 2007-2010 (2049 in the U.S. dub), giant monsters and conquering aliens start to appear, as was foretold by an apocalyptic prophecy about an uncontrollable chaos over the Earth. Facing the threat, the TPC (Terrestrial Peaceable Consortium) is created, such as its branch, GUTS (Global Unlimited Task Squad). Through a holographic message in a capsule found by researchers, the GUTS gets knowledge about a golden pyramid built by an ancient civilization. At the site, three statues of a race of giants who defended early human civilization on Earth about 30,000,000 years ago from Super-Ancient Monsters and other forces of darkness are found, but two of them are destroyed by the monsters Golza and Melba. The third one gains life from the spiritual energy of officer Daigo Madoka, descendant of the ancient race. Daigo and the remaining statue merge into a single being, made of light, Ultraman Tiga. Shortly after defeating the two monsters, Daigo is revealed by the hologram of the prophecy that 30 million years in the past, a great evil that not even the giants could stop, destroyed the ancient civilization. The same evil reappears in the finale of the series, the Ruler of Darkness Gatanothor, and his servants, Gijera and Zoigar. Gatanothor defeats Ultraman Tiga with ease, withstanding the Delcalium Light Stream and a modified version of the Zepellion Ray and reverts the titan back to a statue but the light of humanity is able to turn him into Glitter Tiga, giving him the power to defeat Gatanothor and save the Earth.

However, Tiga's victory came at a cost. Daigo was no longer able to become Tiga after the Spark Lens disintegrated into dust after his final battle. It is ultimately revealed that Tiga, although no longer bound to Daigo, still exists in the heart of those who believe in Tiga and may reappear again in the future.

GUTS

 * Daigo Madoka
 * Rena Yanase
 * Megumi Iruma
 * Seiichi Munakata
 * Masami Horii
 * Tetsuo Shinjoh
 * Jun Yazumi

TPC

 * Souichiro Sawai: The head and founder of TPC, and a strong advocate of GUTS. A pacifist at heart, but also a rationalist in the face of the dangers that face humanity. Advocated the formation of TPC when he was the secretary general of the United Nations back in the 20th century. Often participates in field operations. Also dedicated to contacting extraterrestrial life.
 * Masayuki Nahara: A gentle man of principle who avoids confrontation. He likes to put the breaks on reckless military buildups.
 * Tetsuji Yoshioka: He is responsible for the enforcement arm of TPC. A war hawk, but also an old friend of pacifist Sawai. Often disagrees with Nahara, but never acts irrationally. A former submariner. He likes to carry and use a traditional folding Japanese fan.
 * Mayumi Shinjoh
 * Naban Yao: A professor and the founder of Maxima Overdrive, which can harness the power of light. A scientist at heart, he continues to pursue the dreams of his childhood. It takes him 20 years to turn his dream of creating the greatest ship ever into a reality (in the form of the Art Dessei). In a nice touch, names his test vehicle the Snow White.
 * Reiko Kashimura: The head of TPC's "Ride Mecha" R and D. She made several appearances in the first half of the series. She participates in the analysis of Yuzare's time capsule and the modification of GUTS mecha to combat. She also makes an appearance in Ultraman Dyna.
 * Yuuji Tango: An army scientist from TPC's Life Sciences Research division. He is small at heart but full of pride. He spends time analyzing the remains of the Tiga statues. His insecurities eventually lead him to trouble.
 * Omi Yanase
 * Shin Hayate

Other

 * Keigo Masaki
 * Yuzare
 * Michiru Ezaki
 * Makio Kirino
 * Tomoki Miura]] :Iruma's only son. He lives with his grandmother and is a computer Genius that surpasses even Yazumi.

Cameos

 * Episode 49
 * The original Ultraman helps to defeat monster Yanakahgi. Since Tiga is from an entirely different timeline to the original Ultra series, a lot of plot contortions are made in order to bring together these two Ultras in order to honor the 30th anniversary of the original Ultraman.

Films

 * Ultraman Tiga: The Final Odyssey: The story is set two years after the final episode.
 * Ultraman Tiga Gaiden: Revival of the Ancient Giant: A direct-to-video special set many years after the end of the series (Year 2038, 21 years after the events of Ultraman Dyna).
 * Ultraman Tiga & Ultraman Dyna: Warriors of the Star of Light: A crossover between Ultraman Tiga and Ultraman Dyna. The events of the movie take place within the Dyna series. Tiga appears to assist Dyna in battling an alien threat.
 * Ultraman Tiga, Ultraman Dyna, & Ultraman Gaia: The Decisive Battle in Hyperspace: A crossover featuring Tiga as an Ultra that appeared in the film.
 * Great Decisive Battle! The Super 8 Ultra Brothers: Tiga was one of the main Ultras who appeared in this film, this movie occurs in an alternate universe where Ultras never came to Earth and were thought of as legends from a TV show. Ultraman Mebius crossed over into this universe to team up with them.

4Kids Adaptation
Ultraman Tiga was the fourth Ultra series to be adapted for a U.S. release, following Ultraman, Ultraseven, and Ultraman: Towards the Future. It was licensed by 4Kids Entertainment and aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company's FoxBox Saturday morning programming block. The first episode premiered on September 14, 2002.

Unlike the adaptation into, which combined the original shows' tokusatsu sequences with an entirely new cast, Ultraman Tiga was simply dubbed into English. Nonetheless, 4Kids made a number of significant changes. There was an entirely new theme song and the original soundtrack for the series was replaced. Episode storylines was altered and simplified to comply with Fox's Standards and Practices division and accommodate the differences between Japanese and American commercial breaks and broadcasting scheduling. Each episode was typically one or two minutes shorter than its Japanese counterpart.

There was also a lot more blatant and crude humor. The Japanese Ultraman Tiga had a few moments of subtle humor and charming moments. The Americanized version came with dialogue that poked fun of the original material as well as the dubbing in general, which changed the personalities for some of the characters (Notable in this aspect was the transformation of Captain Iruma from a smart, level-headed individual into a complete airhead.) Additionally, Captain Iruma was referred to as a "sir" instead of a "ma'am", perhaps in an attempt at being politically correct. This caused some problems within the addressing of a commanding officer whether that person was male or a female.

The monsters were enhanced with new sound effects, and the transformation sequence was altered altogether, in a scene showcasing all of Tiga's forms and emphasizing the change from Daigo to Tiga. Additionally, Ultraman Tiga's "Multi, Power, and Sky Types" are changed into "Omni, Power, and Speed Modes," respectively. The Spark Lens was renamed the "Torch of Tiga", although the Region 1 DVD Release refers to it as the "Spark Lance" for the first DVD (soon afterwards, the translation becomes "Spark Lens" yet again. His light techniques were called "Luminizers", and Ultraman Tiga's Color Timer is referred to as his "Biotic Sensor." Probably the most infamous (and partially racial) of the Tiga incidents was in episode 22, where the Japanese dialogue was used in the Americanized version of the series as an "Extraterrestrial Language."

Ultraman Tiga was removed from the FoxBox lineup on March 15, 2003, due to low ratings, with only 25 episodes of the 52-episode series having aired. 4Kids initially planned to relaunch the show in September, but decided to release the Japanese episodes on DVD instead. As a result, their dub is only viewable through recordings of the original broadcasts.

According to Voice Actress, Erica Schroeder (whom played the voice of Rena of GUTS,) she said that part of the reason for Ultraman Tiga's limited success in the U.S. was due to 4Kids was having issues deciding on whether to satirize the show or to make it serious, which explains the poorly handled humor and dubbing as seen throughout the dub.

Cast

 * Daigo Madoka (マドカ・ダイゴ)/Nagano (長野): Hiroshi Nagano (V6) (長野 博（Ｖ６）)
 * Rena Yanase (ヤナセ・レナ): Takami Yoshimoto (吉本 多香美)
 * Megumi Iruma (イルマ・メグミ)/Yuzare (ユザレ): Mio Takaki (高樹 澪)
 * Seiichi Munakata (ムナカタ・セイイチ): Akitoshi Ohtaki (大滝 明利)
 * Masami Horii (ホリイ・マサミ): Yukio Masuda (増田 由紀夫)
 * Tetsuo Shinjoh (シンジョウ・テツオ): Shigeki Kagemaru (影丸 茂樹)
 * Jun Yazumi (ヤズミ・ジュン): Yoichi Furuya (古屋 暢一)
 * Souichiro Sawai (サワイ・ソウイチロウ): Tamio Kawachi (川地 民夫)
 * Masayuki Nahara (ナハラ・マサユキ): Take Uketa (タケ・ウケタ)
 * Tetsuji Yoshioka (ヨシオカ・テツジ): Ken Okabe (岡部 健)
 * Mayumi Shinjoh (シンジョウ・マユミ): Kei Ishibashi (石橋 けい)
 * Naban Yao (ヤオ・ナバン): Ichirō Ogura (小倉 一郎)
 * Reiko Kashimura (カシムラ・レイコ): Takako Kitagawa (北川 たか子)
 * Yūji Tango (タンゴ・ユウジ): Yoichi Okamura (岡村 洋一)
 * Ultraman Tiga (ウルトラマンティガの声): Yuji Machi (真地 勇志) (voice)

Guest Cast

 * Omi Yanase (ヤナセ・オミ): Shigeru Araki (荒木 しげる)
 * Ryosuke Sanada (サナダ・リョウスケ): Ryoma Sasaki (柚原 旬)
 * Sayaka Ijuin (イジュウイン・サヤカ): Michiko Shimazaki (島崎路子)
 * Zara (ザラ): Shogo Shiotani (塩谷庄吾)
 * Lucia (ルシア): Motoko Nagi (梛野素子)
 * Takuma (拓磨): Takuma Aoki (青木 拓磨)
 * Noodle Shop Vendor (夜鳴きそば屋)/Obiko (オビコ): Shoichiro Akaboshi (赤星昇一郎)* Kyoto Inui (イヌイ・キヨ): Tom Saeba (冴場都夢)
 * Keigo Masaki (マサキ・ケイゴ／イーヴィルティガ): Takashi Koura (高良隆志)
 * Shin Hayate (ハヤテ・シン): Masaki Kyomoto (京本 政樹)
 * Ultraman (ウルトラマンの声): Satoshi Furuya (voice)

Suit Actors
Ryūki Kitaoka (北岡 久貴) Daisuke Kanemitsu (金光 大輔) Koji Nakamura (中村 浩二) Toshio Miyake (三宅 敏夫) Motoko Nagino (梛野 素子)
 * Ultraman Tiga (Multi and Sky Type): Shunsuke Gondo (権藤 俊輔)
 * Ultraman Tiga (Multi and Power Type): Koji Nakamura (中村 浩二)
 * Monsters and Aliens: Daisuke Terai (寺井 大介)

English Dub

 * Wayne Grayson as Daigo Madoka
 * Megan Hollingshead as Megumi Iruma
 * Jimmy Zoppi as Masami Horii
 * Dan Green
 * Mike Pollock
 * Corinne Orr
 * David Moo
 * Jason Samuels
 * Andrew Paull as Tetsuo Shinjoh
 * Eric Stuart

Songs

 * Opening Theme
 * "TAKE ME HIGHER"
 * Lyrics and Composition: Jennifer Batten, Alberto Emilio Contini, Giancarlo Pasquini
 * Japanese Lyrics: Kazumi Suzuki (鈴木 計美)
 * Arrangement: Yasuhiko Hoshino (星野 靖彦)
 * String Arrangement: Mitsuo Hagida (萩田 光雄)
 * Choral Arrangement: Hiroaki Suzuki (鈴木 弘明)
 * Artist: V6
 * Original Artist: Dave Rodgers [he performed the English version of Take Me Higher before V6 translated it into Japanese]
 * "TAKE ME HIGHER" reached #1 of the Oricon Weekly Rankings Charts for the week of September 30, 1996, and became a Platinum Record.
 * Ending Theme
 * "Brave Love, Tiga"
 * Producer: Gorō Kishitani (岸谷 五朗)
 * Lyrics: Sunplaza Nakano
 * Composition: Barbe-Q Wasada (バーベQ和佐田)
 * Arrangement: Yasuhiko Fukuda (福田裕彦)
 * Artist: Earth Protection Force (地球防衛団)
 * Leader: Gorō Kishitani
 * Members: Takashi Utsunomiya (宇都宮 隆), Toshiaki Karasawa, Naoto Kine (木根 尚登), Sunplaza Nakano, Yasafumi Terawaki (寺脇 康文), Masahiko Nishimura, Barbe-Q Wasada, Papala Kawai (パッパラー河合), Patrick Bommarito (パトリック・ボンマリート), Funky Sueyoshi (ファンキー末吉), Yasuhiko Fukuda (福田 裕彦), Honjamaka (ホンジャマカ), Hidehiko Ishizuka (石塚 英彦), Toshiaki Megumi (恵 俊彰)
 * Ultraman Tiga has a special opening theme and ending theme exclusive to Chinese TV version named "奇迹再现" (The Miracle Reappear) and "永远的奥特曼" (Ultraman Forever).

Manga
Uchūsen (Spacecraft) Magazine began a serialization of an Ultraman Tiga manga in the Summer 1997 written by Mamoru Uchiyama.

Adaptations
Dark Horse Comics published a manga-style series based on Ultraman Tiga in 2003–2004.