Signs of Life

Signs of Life
Ultraman: Towards the Future, episode 1
Information
Release Date	September 25, 1990 (direct-to-video)
Airdate	January 4, 1992 (US) July 8, 1995 (Japan)
Directed by	Andrew Prowse
Written by	Noboru Aikawa (original draft) Terry Larsen
Continuity
Next	The Hibernator
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Signs of Life is the first episode of Ultraman: Towards the Future. It is also called The Silver Giant in Japan.

Synopsis

Jack Shindo and Stanley Haggard are on a mission to Mars, where they discover a monstrous virus called Gudis who is "destroyed" by a red and silver giant. Stanley is killed while trying to escape, leaving Jack with the giant, Ultraman Great, who merges with him. Back on earth, the Gudis virus mutates a tadpole into the deadly Bogun.

Plot

Jack Shindo and Stanley Haggard are the first men to land on Mars. Upon arriving they are met with none other than the strange alien monster Gudis. As Gudis was slowly moving towards them a giant silver humanoid by the name of Ultraman Great came to the rescue. After Gudis pushed Great aside he killed Stanley as he tried to escape in the ship as Jack was trapped by a rock slide. Great quickly got back up and used Burning Plasma to knock Gudis down. Gudis fell dead by the Burning Plasma's true power, but not before he sent a virus to Earth. To save the humans of Earth Jack had become Great's human host and went to Earth.

The next day, Bogun appeared that was created by the Gudis's virus. Bogun changed his appearance from that of a tadpole to a gigantic brute rampaging through the United States. UMA was sent to destroy it, but only succeeded in annoying Bogun. It wasn't long before Jack used the Delta-Plasma pendant to turn into Ultraman Great. As the two clashed, Great seemed to have the upper hand until Bogun used poison gas. However, the ultra persevered and eventually used Burning Plasma to set Bogun on fire.

Cast

• Jack Shindo: Dore Kraus
• Jean Echo: Gia Carides
• Arthur Grant: Ralph Cotterill
• Kim Shaomin: Grace Parr
• Charles Morgan: Lloyd Morris
• Lloyd Wilder: Rick Adams

Guest Actors

• Stanley Haggard: Jay Hackett

Voice Actors

• Ultraman Great: Matthew O'Sullivan
• Narrator: John Bonney

Japanese Dub

• Jack Shindo: Masaki Kyomoto
• Jean Echo: Yoshiko Sakakibara
• Arthur Grant: Akiji Kobayashi
• Kim Shaomin: Fumi Hirano
• Charles Morgan: Koichi Yamadera
• Lloyd Wilder: Shingo Yanagisawa
• Stanley Haggard: Eizo Tsuda
• Narrator: Hiroshi Fujioka

Suit Actors

• Ultraman Great: Steve Apps and Robert Simper
• Monsters: Mike Read and Johnny Halliday

Appearances

Ultras

• Ultraman Great

Kaiju

• Gudis
• Bogun

Trivia

• During the series preparation, Noboru Aikawa initially proposed a script titled Ultraman Divine Change (tentative) for the first episode, named "I Saw a God in the Desert" . The first draft was submitted on May 12, 1989, followed by the second draft on May 16. After receiving feedback on the English translation of the script, the third draft was submitted on June 30. Ultimately, a revised version with minor edits became the finalized script on the Japanese side, titled "Phantom of the Desert" .
  • In the original draft, the narrator's perspective was set to focus on Jean Echo, detailing her recruitment process into UMA. However, by the third draft, Jean was established as already having joined UMA.
  • Initially, Stanley was depicted as having abandoned Jack on Mars and subsequently met his demise. This portrayal was later revised to show him voluntarily sacrificing himself to allow Jack to return earth.
  • The shooting script written by Terry Larsen adhered to the Japanese script but also included some original content. This included Charles's analysis during UMA's observation of the "meteor shower," as well as Arthur's assertion that "Ultraman might be the enemy," which prompted him to instruct the on-site UMA members to attack Ultraman.
  • Arthur's final line, originally stated as "God will send a savior..." in the draft, was changed in Terry's script to "A savior from the stars..." This modification likely occurred during the translation into English, possibly to avoid the use of the term "God." Some lines intentionally reverted to the original tone during the production of the Japanese dubbing script.