Ultra Q The Movie: Legend of the Stars

Ultra Q The Movie: Legend of the Stars
Information
Starring	Masami Horiuchi Hiroshi Tsuburaya Akiji Kobayashi Susumu Kurobe Sandayu Dokumamushi
Release Date(s)	April 14, 1990
Country of Origin	Japan
Language	Japanese
Running Time	106 minutes
Directed by	Akio Jissoji
Produced by	Tsuburaya Eizo
Written by	Mamoru Sasaki
Music by	Maki Ishii
Cinematography by	Masao Nakabori
Editing by	Osami Inoue
Distributed by	Shochiku
Production/Release
Previous	Ultra Q
Next	Ultra Q: Dark Fantasy

Ultra Q The Movie: Legend of the Stars is a tokusatsu Kaiju movie based on the 1966 series Ultra Q and produced by Tsuburaya Eizo in 1990.

Production

Script draft for Ultra Q Monster Concerto.

During the 1980s, director Akio Jissoji attempted to create a new entry in the Ultraman Series. One notable concept was the 1982 proposal titled the Ultraman: Monster Bible. This film's premise revolved around exploring the "future" envisioned during the original Ultraman TV series' broadcast—essentially, contemporary Japan of 1982—through the lens of societal issues. However, the project was ultimately shelved due to budget constraints and its misalignment with the cultural climate of the time.

In 1984, Tsuburaya Productions planned a theatrical film titled "Ultra Q: Monster Concerto" , written by Mamoru Sasaki and supervised by Shinichi Sekizawa. The movie was intended as a tribute to Eiji Tsuburaya. At the time, preparations for the film were nearly complete. A production office was set up at Daiei Film Studios, and location scouting had already begun. The production team was almost fully assembled, but the project was ultimately abandoned due to financial constraints. The following outlines the film's storyline:

A series of mysterious events unfolded in Noto Peninsula, where two massive kaiju appeared separately at a nuclear power plant and a waste treatment facility. These creatures consumed industrial waste before vanishing without a trace. Through a public naming contest held by the media, the monsters were dubbed "Draga " and "Zur ." Meanwhile, Hisashi Tanomura , a young man practicing organic farming at the base of Mount Fuji, met Karya , an international student. She expressed fascination with Japanese folktales, such as the story of Princess Kaguya and the legend of the celestial robe, shared by Hisashi. His emphasis on living harmoniously with nature resonated deeply with her, and their mutual interests blossomed into a romantic relationship.

Around the same time, a television reporter, Kiriko Kazamatsuri , nicknamed "Fuko ," was covering a story on nuclear power plants. During her investigation, she encountered Ramure , another international student. Kazeko voiced her concerns about modern Japan's relentless pursuit of cutting-edge technology, often at the expense of environmental destruction and pollution. Ramure, moved by her perspective, began to see things differently, and their shared ideals brought them closer together.

Karya and Ramure were aliens from the Mime tribe, whose home planet had been destroyed, leaving them dependent on artificial food. This change altered their physiology, putting their species at risk of extinction. To ensure their survival, they traveled to Earth to create hybrid offspring with humans. In reality, their true forms were the kaiju Draga and Zur, appearing across Japan to feed on industrial waste, their primary food source. They used special pills to disguise themselves as humans and blend into Earth’s society.

After the cancellation of the Ultra Q: Monster Concerto project, production of Ultra Q films was put on hold for several years. However, six years later, a new Ultra Q movie was proposed. Initially envisioned as a project directed by Shusuke Kaneko with scripts written by Kazunori Ito and Hiroaki Jinno, the film aimed to take an episodic anthology format, similar in tone and ambition to the Heisei Godzilla series. Three story drafts were developed for the project, but despite initial efforts, the plan eventually fell through after a prolonged and complicated development process.

The project was subsequently taken over by Tsuburaya Eizo, a company founded by Akira Tsuburaya. Under this new management, a collaboration between Jissoji and Sasaki began to take shape. The revised script incorporated ideas from two unproduced film concepts while drawing inspiration from Japanese folklore, including elements of the Urashima Tarō, the Hagoromo Legend, the Sea People, and the concept of Tokoyo-no-Kuni. The tone and narrative style were heavily influenced by Jissoji and Sasaki's earlier works, ranging from Operation: Mystery to Crescent Moon Love Story (1976) and Sacred Mother Kannon (1977).

When the film was finally released, Akio Jissoji joined Mamoru Sasaki and Noriaki Ikeda in a discussion about the project. Jissoji remarked: "While I respect the original Ultra Q series, I didn’t consciously reference it during the creative process this time." He went on to explain: "I’ve always wanted to make a kaiju film. It has been a long-standing dream of mine, and this project finally allowed me to realize it."

Upon release, the film became Jissoji’s only work classified explicitly as a "kaiju film".

Synopsis

Jun Manjome, an employee at the TTV, investigates a series of mysterious deaths, leading him and his colleagues on a search for Hamano, another employee who went missing while researching for an ancient history program.

Appearances

Kaiju

• Wadatuzin
• Nagira

Cast

• Jun Manjome : Toshio Shiba
• Yuriko Edogawa : Keiko Oginome
• Ippei Togawa : Shingo Kazami
• Mayumi Hoshino : Mio Takaki
• Tetsushi Hamano : Masami Horiuchi
• Takeshi Sasamoto : Toshio Yamauchi
• Ichinotani : Jin Nakayama
• Yamane : Minori Terada
• Morita : Shiro Sano
• Cameraman: Hiroshi Tsuburaya
• News Staff:
  • Hiroyuki Takano
  • Yumiko Tsutsui
• Detectives:
  • Susumu Kurobe
  • Akiji Kobayashi
  • Sandayu Dokumamushi
• Yamane's Colleague: Yasuhiko Saijo
• Fisherman: Masao Fukazawa
• Apartment Resident: Miho Nikaido
• Izu Historian: Haruhiko Okamura
• Taxi Driver: Shingo Uchiide
• Farmer: Shigeo Kato
• Businessman: Mikio Ozawa
• Yoshinogari Clerk: Isao Iwamoto
• Construction Site Supervisor: Yutaka Ikejima
• Police Officers:
  • Kunihiko Kojima
  • Toshiki Hidaka
  • Masayuki Mitsuya
  • Ryuji Yamamoto
  • Yasunori Yumiya
• Tourism Businessmen:
  • Atsushi Taniguchi
  • Hiroto Masaki
  • Masasuke Hirose
• Innkeeper: Keiko Kaga
• Narrator: Koji Ishizaka
• Butoh Dancer and Choreographer: Min Tanaka

Staff

• Director: Akio Jissoji
• Screenwriter: Mamoru Sasaki
• Special effects director: Junkichi Oki
• Executive producer: Akira Tsuburaya
• Producers: Noriko Shishikura, Yoshiki Nomura
• Kaiju designer: Noriyoshi Ikeya
• Music: Maki Ishii
  • Performance: New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Soloist (ciderois Hos): Sumire Yoshihara
• Cinematography: Masao Nakabori
• Lighting: Kenji Ushiba
• Art: Shinichi Mizuno
• Editor: Osamu Inoue
• Sound recording: Eiji Kimura
• Special equipment: Toyo Oshima
• Assistant director: Tsugumi Kitaura
• Records: Teruko Kumano
• Music selection: Masumi Ishii
• Sound effects: Masatoshi Saito (Toyo Onkyo Kamome)
• Sound advisor: Yoshihiro Nakayama
• Storyboard: Shinji Higuchi
• Special effects makeup: Tomoo Haraguchi
• Action choreographer: Tatsumi Nikamoto
• Visual Effects
  • Visual effects supervisor: Minoru Nakano
  • Technical editor: Michihisa Miyashige
  • Effects animation: Takashi Kawabata
  • Composite painting: Takeshi Tsukada
  • Scanimates: IMAGICA
  • Alien CG modeling: buildup Co.,Ltd.
• Special Techniques
  • Cinematography: Shinichi Ooka
  • Lighting: Motoichi Ichikawa
  • Art: Yasuo Fujita
  • Assistant director: Mitsunori Hattori
  • Records: Ikuko Shimanuki
  • Editor: Ryūichi Takano
  • Stunt coordination: Kamekōsen (Izumi Negishi)
  • Pyrotechnics effects: Ohime Special Effects (Osame Kume)
  • Kaiju modeling: Bess
  • Spaceship modeling: Up Art, Seed
  • Special modeling: Marbling Fine Arts, Special Art GAM, Locust
• Filming cooperation: Yoshinogari Site Preservation Association, Hizen Town Tourism Association, Shimoda City Tourism Association, Nishi-Izu Tourism Association, Yosa-gun Ine Town Chamber of Commerce, Mineyama Town, Yae Town
• Recording studio: Nikkatsu Studio Center
• Development: Tokyo Laboratory
• Video technology cooperation: Pavic
• Studios: International Television, Midoriyama Studio City
• Original work: Tsuburaya Productions
• Planning cooperation: TBS
• Production cooperation: Kodai
• Co-producing producer: Hiroshi Abe
• Production: Tsuburaya Eizo
• Distributed by: Shochiku, Sega Enterprises, Tohoku Shinsha, Tsuburaya Eizo, Collaborative Work

Home Media

The movie was released on VHS on October 24, 1990, and on DVD on August 25, 2001, both by Bandai Visual.

Gallery

Images

Stills

Trivia

• This is the last movie to use Tsuburaya's style of opening credits.
• The film's director, Akio Jissoji, previously directed many Ultraman Series episodes, as well as a 1979 film compiling his episodes of Ultraman.

• In 2011, an unreleased script of the film Ultra Q: Monster Concerto was discovered in the Mamoru Sasaki Memorial Room in Nomi City, Ishikawa Prefecture. It was exhibited for the first time at the Nomi City Museum during the Mamoru Sasaki Special Exhibition in July.
• The detectives are played by some of the main cast of Ultraman.
• Yasuhiko Saijo, who played Ippei Togawa in Ultra Q, makes a cameo.
• In Ichinotani's laboratory, photos of the original Ichinotani from Ultra Q and writer Tetsuo Kinjo are on the wall.
• Akio Jissoji's stuffed raccoon Chinabo appears as the TTV's mascot.
• Masami Horiuchi would later play portray a minor character with the same name as his character from this film in episode 4 of Ultraman Decker.
• Regarding Shusuke Kaneko's Ultra Q project, a 2019 interview revealed that the series was conceived as a trilogy of short films, written by Kazunori Ito, Hiroaki Jinno, and Mitsuru Shimada. The format was designed as a "monster anthology," with each installment featuring a unique story. Kaneko and Ito would later go on to collaborate on the Heisei Gamera trilogy. The three films included the following:
  • Mammoth Flower: Written by Hiroaki Jinno, this story was adapted from the episode 4 of the original series and was intended to serve as the film's opening. In the story, wind blows flower pollen into a drain, and when combined with rainwater, it creates a vortex. This sequence was to be the opening of the Ultra Q.
  • Garamon: Written by Kazunori Ito, this story was adapted from the episode 13 of the original series.
  • Additionally, Mitsuru Shimada contributed a fantasy-oriented story that did not feature any monsters.
  • The project ultimately came to an abrupt halt. The main issue arose from the exclusive merchandising rights to the Ultraman monsters being owned by Bandai, which prevented the movie's sponsor, Sega, from selling toys of the monsters featured in the film. Given this limitation, Sega felt it was not worthwhile to incorporate past monsters into the project, leading to the script being discarded. Despite this, the movie's release schedule had already been set, and the project was eventually continued based on Akio Jissoji's earlier concepts.
• To date, the movie has not been made available on TSUBURAYA IMAGINATION.

External Links

• Ultra Q The Movie: Legend of the Stars at Shochiku's official website