Inheritance of Light

Inheritance of Light
Ultraman Tiga, episode 1
Information
Airdate	September 7, 1996
Directed by	Shingo Matsubara
Written by	Masakazu Migita
Special Effects Directed by	Koichi Takano
Viewer Ratings	8.6%
Continuity
Previous	None
Next	Legend of the Stone

Inheritance of Light is the first episode of Ultraman Tiga.

Synopsis

The peace and tranquility of Earth was shattered as two monsters, Golza and Melba, appeared. The monsters landed in Japan and headed straight for a specific location. There lay the ruins of an ancient civilization unknown to anyone! GUTS members discovered the legendary "Tiga's Pyramid" here...!

Plot

In the year AD 2007, kaiju and threatening alien invaders begin to appear on Earth. The TPC formed GUTS to counter the threats. One day GUTS members Daigo Madoka and Rena Yanase were patrolling near a village in Mongolia when suddenly an armored dinosaurian kaiju emerged. Though the monster proved a challenge, Daigo and Rena succesfully drove it out of the area.

Reporting to the GUTS headquarters, they then uncovered a strange meteor that contained some sort of a metallic capsule that contained a holographic message of a woman. She says:

"I am Yuzare, I am also a leader of an Earth defense organization. I recorded this to warn you that soon will came the age of chaos, marked by the appearance of the Ultra-Ancient Kaiju, Golza and Melba, who will wreak havoc in this very Earth. My children, you should find the Pyramid of Light which contained a titan of light."

The message ends there. At first the humans doubted Tiga's existence, but decided to investigate further. While investigating, Daigo heard someone was calling his name. He came near the Pyramid of Light and entered, finding a stone giant, Tiga, and two other statues beside him. When Daigo touched it, he heard the screams of terror of the ancient people.

But at the same time, Golza reappeared. Seeing the pyramid, the kaiju starts to destroy the pyramid, when Melba flies down to join in. Once they destroyed it, they killed two of the Titans. Daigo, watching in horror, pilots GUTS Wing 1 to fight them, but was shot down. Unknowingly, the giant responded to him and merged with the youth - Ultraman Tiga was revived. Tiga fought the two monsters and changed into Power Type. After he injured Golza, he tried to kick Melba, but the kaiju flew too fast, giving Golza some time to retreat for his life with Melba blasting Tiga.

Tiga then turned into Sky Type and kicked him in the sky, before then destroying Melba. Daigo returned to the relief of his teammates, but wondered why Tiga merged with him. The capsule, which had stopped halfway earlier, plays a final message (while no one else was there) that states to awaken Tiga, Daigo must 'become light' and fuse with him. She also revealed that the Titan's name is Ultraman Tiga.

Cast

• Daigo Madoka : Hiroshi Nagano (V6)
• Rena Yanase : Takami Yoshimoto
• Megumi Iruma : Mio Takaki
• Seiichi Munakata : Akitoshi Otaki
• Masami Horii : Yukio Masuda
• Tetsuo Shinjoh : Shigeki Kagemaru
• Jun Yazumi : Yoichi Furuya
• Reiko Kashimura : Takako Kitagawa

Guest Actors

• Yuzare : Minako Osanai
• Newscaster : Masaharu Numata
• TPC Member : Brad Warner
• TPC Development Authority Clerk : Katsuhiko Narita

Voice Actors

• Ultraman Tiga : Yuji Machi
• Narrator : Issei Futamata

Suit Actors

• Ultraman Tiga:
  • Multi Type and Sky Type: Shunsuke Gondo
  • Power Type: Koji Nakamura
• Golza: Toshio Miyake
• Melba: Hiroyuki Okano

Appearances

Ultras

• Ultraman Tiga
  • Multi Type
  • Power Type
  • Sky Type
• Tiga's companions

Kaiju

• Golza
• Melba

Mecha

• Government/Military
  • GUTS Wings
    • No.1 (x2)
    • No.2 (x2)
  • Executive Transport Aircraft (x1)
  • Multi-Purpose Aircraft (x1)
    • VR-097

Home Media

• Ultraman Tiga Volume 1 features episodes 1-4.

Trivia

• Takeshi Yagi said in "Ultraman Tiga 25th Anniversary Testimony" that filming for this episode started on July 1, 1996. That morning, the cast and crew got together at the Subaru Building in Shinjuku around 6 a.m. for special-effects filming at Toho's Studio Building No. 5.
  • The main production team traveled to Dōshi in Yamanashi Prefecture for location filming.
  • The GUTS uniforms weren't ready until the morning of July 1. Ten days earlier, the first versions made from the original fabric were rejected. Supervisor Koichi Takano decided they had to be remade in leather, saying the fabric versions were unusable. The costume team finished the replacements in ten days.
• The scenes of the GUTS members approaching the pyramid were filmed around the Mizukawa Valley, near the Oku-Tama Station on the Ōme Line. Daigo finds the pyramid at Toke Bridge, a bridge that goes over the Tama River.

• This episode marks the first time the production team has used motion control photography. An example is shot #29 C-1 (Scene 29, Cut 1). This shot begins with a view of the mountain, showing two parked planes and four people. The shot then pans to reveal more of the area, which made setup time unusually long. Ultimately, the broadcast used a backup take (F·1x) instead of the motion-controlled version.
• The episode’s script went through two major revisions. After the "decided draft," writer Masakazu Migita produced a “Decided Draft II,” which included concepts from Kazuho Mitsuta’s proposed New Ultraman project.

  • 

    DEO209, a device introduced in "Decided Draft II," was a prototype built by Horii that allowed Daigo to merge with Tiga's statue and become a being of light. However, this idea was dropped during filming. Still, a production photo of Horii holding the DEO209 remains.
• The first episode originally ran about 42 minutes, which caused editing difficulties. Director Shingo Matsubara later recalled calling producer Ikeda late at night to ask if the episode could be split into two parts. Ikeda refused, so several scenes were cut to keep only the core of the story.
• This episode was later featured in third episode of Ultraman Retsuden, "Tiga's Revival! The Ultra-Ancient Warrior of Light!!."
• This was the only time that Tiga's crystal lights up the color Tiga wants to change into before placing his hands over it to change his Type.