"In the next thirty minutes, you will open the door to this mysterious world and regain a lost eternity."
- ―Opening narration
Ultra Q: Dark Fantasy is a 2004 production based on Ultra Q, the first of the Ultraman Series. It retains the same swirling effect for the title card, but with the words "Dark Fantasy" added underneath, the title also remains black and white. It was a late night show, airing at 1:00 AM.
Production[]
The earliest proposal for a revival of Ultra Q can be traced back to the 1990 movie Ultra Q The Movie: Legend of the Stars. Initially conceived as a project directed by Shusuke Kaneko, with a screenplay by Kazunori Ito and Hiroaki Jinno, the movie was envisioned as an anthology of episodic stories, aiming to expand into the higher-budget general film market. At the time, Daiei had just released Dunhuang, a Japanese-Chinese co-production based on a novel by Yasushi Inoue, and was searching for their next project. Kaneko, through his acquaintance Shoji Kogai, whom he met during the production of OL yurizoku 19-sai, a film he directed, learned about the opportunity. Kogai, a member of Daiei's planning department, brought the proposal to Daiei's Shimbashi office for discussion.
As Ultra Q was a trademark of Tsuburaya Productions, Kaneko reached out to Akira Tsuburaya, the third son of Eiji Tsuburaya. The two had previously worked together on the 1985 Fuji TV one-off drama THE Samurai, directed by Kaneko and produced by Tsuburaya Productions. Akira Tsuburaya, a devoted fan of Ultra Q, enthusiastically supported Kaneko's concept after hearing about it. However, the project ultimately fell through due to a long and complicated development process.[1][2][3] Following Akira Tsuburaya's departure from Tsuburaya Productions in 1989, the project was taken over by Tsuburaya Eizo, a company he founded. It was restructured under a new team, with Akio Jissoji directing and Mamoru Sasaki writing the script.
In the summer of 2002, a new production committee was formed by Tsuburaya Productions, Avex Group, and TV Tokyo to pursue a 21st-century Ultra Q revival. Producing a new Ultra Q had long been a personal aspiration of Akira Tsuburaya, and thus Tsuburaya Eizo also joined the project as a supporting production partner, effectively acting as an outsourced team for Tsuburaya Productions. Due to the complicated history of the project, it was scheduled for a late-night broadcast slot (1:00 to 1:30 AM), and budget constraints prevented the creation of an elaborate kaiju-focused series. Instead, the concept shifted towards themes of "horror" and "fantasy." In March 2003, the project was formally finalized, coinciding with a near-complete management reshuffle within Tsuburaya Productions. The production credits listed Masahiro Tsuburaya as project planner and Akira Tsuburaya as production supervisor. The series was ultimately titled Ultra Q: Dark Fantasy.
Within the series, Kaneko served as a director, while Takeshi Yagi, who had previously worked in the production pepartment under Kazuho Mitsuta, was appointed as the lead director. Many of the other directors and writers involved were veterans from the Heisei Ultraman series. After the series concluded, several of these staff members went on to form the core production team for Ultraman Max.
Synopsis[]
Resurrected after 38 years, Ultra Q, a timeless masterpiece in Japanese special effects history, has been airing on television since April 2004. With the latest special effects technology and a stellar cast, it features plenty of highlights and, of course, many nostalgic monsters.
As indicated by the subtitle "dark fantasy," this series emphasizes horror themes, focusing more on depicting people unexpectedly caught up in supernatural phenomena rather than the situation of giant monsters destroying cities. Additionally, there are many episodes set in downtown areas featuring comedy, love stories, and heartwarming moments, making the series truly diverse and deserving of the descriptor "rich in variety".
Characters[]
Protagonists[]
Kaiju[]
- Gara Q
- Garagon
- Alien Giraff
- Living Brain
- Puzzle Woman
- Hieronymus machine
- Fake Policemen D1 & D2
- "Paradise" courier
- Mouse Catchers
- TGS-55
- Kiara
- Ghoulish Beings
- Unitoroda
- Sabikong
- Alien Cosmonet Yamada
- Ceremonial Bonfire
- Three-eyed Totem Pole
- Alien Utsugi
- Varno
- Mirror World Duplicates
- Lily
- Old Gentleman
- Shining Ship
- Cicada Woman
- Garagon II
- Komachi
- Blonde Juvenile
- Space-Time Camera
- Advance Human Genome
- Hecate
- First, Second, Fourth ~ Tenth Planet People
- Kanegoneh
- The Doll
- Foreign Body
- Lecuum
Cast[]
- Goichi Sakamoto : Yoshihiko Hakamada
- Ryo Kusunoki : Kumiko Endo
- Kakunoshin Watarai : Masao Kusakari
- Narrator : Shiro Sano
Suit Actors[]
- Garagon, Sabikong: Kazunori Yokoo
- Unitoroda: Noriko Sakurai
- Varno: Masahiro Nagai
- Cicada Woman: Chiyomi Matsumoto
- Kanegoneh: Fusayo Takatsu
- Lecuum: Junya Soma
Staff[]
- Directors: Takeshi Yagi (main director),[4][5] Mitsunori Hattori, Shusuke Kaneko, Tsugumi Kitaura, Masaki Harada, Norio Tsuruta, Iwao Takahashi, Atsushi Shimizu, Akio Jissoji
- Series compositor: Shozo Uehara
- Screenwriters: Shozo Uehara, Aya Takei, Tamio Hayashi, Mitsutaka Hirota, Hiroshi Takahashi, Sadayuki Murai, Chiaki J. Konaka, Takashi Shinohara, Ai Ota, Nobuyoshi Shimizu, Masakazu Migita, Noboru Takagi, Yuji Kobayashi, Yuki Okano, Keisuke Fujikawa, Masahiro Yamada
- Planning: Masahiro Tsuburaya
- Head executive producer: Takayuki Nagasawa
- Production supervisor: Akira Tsuburaya
- Executive producers: Masao Takiyama (Sony Pictures Entertainment), Masafumi Fukui (IMAGICA Entertainment)
- Producers: Yukiko Omote, Tomoyuki Imai, Yuji Suzuki
- Cinematographer: Masakazu Oka
- Art: Tetsuya Uchida
- Theme music: Kunio Miyauchi
- Music: Akifumi Tada
- Music producers: Takayuki Nagasawa (avex), Shizuka Tamagawa (Tsuburaya Music)
- Storyboards: Yasushi Torisawa
- Production: Tsuburaya Productions, Tsuburaya Entertainment
Music[]
- Ending Themes
- Yuugata ni Saku Hana
- Artist: kayoko
Home Media[]
From August to December 2004, the series was released across 13 DVD volumes, each labeled as a "case", containing two episodes.
Spin-offs[]
- Manga: A manga adaptation created by Kozo Omori was serialized in Tokusatsu Ace magazines from May 2004 to April 2005.
- Novel: A novel published by Kadokawa adapated four episodes of the series.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- According to Chiaki J. Konaka, this series initially entered the planning stage in 2002, with the provisional title Ultra Q: The Midnight. The original concept was to produce a series with a strong horror theme similar to the 1998 film Ring, as requested by the investors. After some discussion, the provisional title was changed to Ultra Q: Horror Fantasy, before ultimately settling on the current title.[6]
- The production of this series was entrusted to Tsuburaya Entertainment by Tsuburaya Productions. However, in 2007, during the business transfer involving Tsuburaya Entertainment, it was discovered that the planning fees for the series had not been paid. On July 8, 2010, the Tokyo District Court ruled that approximately 78 million yen should be paid to Tsuburaya Productions. Due to Tsuburaya Eizo's insolvency and the transfer of its business to Tsuburaya Entertainment, Tsuburaya Productions claimed that the contract for the planning fees, which included around 95 million yen in producer fees, should be inherited by Tsuburaya Entertainment. Consequently, they filed a lawsuit demanding the payment of the remaining unpaid amount, approximately 86 million yen.
External Links[]
References[]