The Hibernator

The Hibernator
Ultraman: Towards the Future, episode 2
Information
Release Date	September 25, 1990 (direct-to-video)
Airdate	January 11, 1992 (US) July 15, 1995 (Japan)
Directed by	Andrew Prowse
Written by	Sho Aikawa (original draft) Terry Larsen
Continuity
Previous	Signs of Life
Next	The Child's Dream
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The Hibernator is the second episode of Ultraman: Towards the Future. It is also called The Frozen Dragon in Japan.

Synopsis

An ancient dinosaur, Gigasaurus, found frozen in suspended animation in Antarctica. Jack appears in front of the UMA members who went to investigate and talks about the threat of Godes. Around the same time, the person who invaded the warehouse where the Gigasaurus was sleeping was...

Plot

An ancient being living in stasis for millions of years Gigasaurus was frozen under the ice of the arctic until the Gudis virus began to warm up the arctic and Gigasaurus was soon discovered by UMA. One day his icy prison began to slowly melt and his cells began to reproduce at a bizzare rate.

As a batch of cells was about to be examined Gigasaurus woke up and increased his size to break out of the storage facility he was held at. UMA sent its fighters as the icy dinosaur monster as he was rampaging through the town and soon into the local transformers. Gigasaurus's freezing breath prevented UMA's fighters from getting close. That night while Gigasaurus was sleeping plans were being thought up to destroy the large dinosaur for good. That morning as Gigasaurus was heading for a local oil refinery a human infected by the Gudis virus was waiting for him to show up.

Jack hijacked one of UMA's fighters to catch up with Gigasaurus to prevent him from getting infected. Before Jack's fighter crashed from Gigasaurus's freezing mist, he turned into Ultraman Great. The two giants clashed against one another and before long Great managed to used Magnum Shoot to use the dinosaur's own mist against him. After a moment of silence for the beast, Great soon destroyed Gigasaurus with Burning Plasma and flew off.

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
• Ike: David Grybowski
• Technicians:
  • Chris Kemp
  • Debbie Little

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
• Ike: Kazuhiko Kishino
• Narrator: Hiroshi Fujioka

Suit Actors

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

Appearances

Ultras

• Ultraman Great

Kaiju

• Gigasaurus

Trivia

• The first draft of this episode was submitted on May 26, 1989, followed by a second draft on May 29.
  • In Sho Aikawa's original concept, the story centered on an accident during UMA's transport of Degunja, which causes the ice around it to melt. Degunja, a creature that moves only during the day and sleeps at night, is simply trying to return to the ocean—its home. Jack realizes this and tries to stop UMA from attacking, but fails. In the end, Degunja's lifeless body is seen floating at sea. The episode ends with UMA members wondering what Degunja might have been thinking while frozen. Jack replies, "Maybe it was dreaming."
  • In Terry Larsen's version, the transport plot and Degunja's journey to the ocean were removed. Originally, both Degunja and Ultraman disappeared at the end, but director Kiyoshi Suzuki requested a more classic "Ultraman-style" ending, which led to the final version.
  • In the original script, there was no scene where Ike laughs and says "UMA?" Instead, the narration simply noted that "Ike laughed hysterically at his own boring joke." Initially, Ike was also supposed to die midway through the episode.