Ultraman Tiga: The Final Odyssey is a tokusatsu movie that released in the year 2000. The movie is a direct sequel to the original Ultraman Tiga television series, serving as an epilogue to the events between Ultraman Tiga and the successor series, Ultraman Dyna.
Production[]
This film serves as the official conclusion to the 1996 TV series Ultraman Tiga and as a prequel to Ultraman Dyna. Set between the two stories, it explores the true origin of Ultraman Tiga as one of the "Giants of Darkness" from 30 million years ago.
In 1997, after Ultraman Tiga ended, Tsuburaya Productions president Kazuo Tsuburaya appeared on a radio programme hosted by V6. He stated: "Even after the television series ended, Tiga remained very popular. We hope to start developing a film centred on Tiga." However, the plan was put on hold due to scheduling conflicts with Hiroshi Nagano.
In April 1999, as the Ultraman Gaia TV series neared its finale, Tsuburaya's production team reached a consensus to develop a Tiga feature film. Hirochika Muraishi, who had directed the Ultraman Tiga series, was invited to lead the project.[1]Muraishi explained that while Tiga had appeared in the first two movies, those stories primarily focused on Dyna and Gaia, making it necessary to explore Tiga's mythology more deeply. Support from Tsuburaya's president helped secure the film's approval.[2]
In this film, Ultraman Tiga appears as "Tiga Dark".[3]
At the same time, screenwriter Keiichi Hasegawa, who had written the previous two Heisei Ultraman films, joined the project. His involvement reflected both his familiarity with Tiga and his experience from the earlier productions. Early planning emphasized that the film should not simply be a "theatrical version" but instead present a distinct tone and visual identity. Producer Kiyoshi Suzuki proposed the concept of "Tiga Dark."[2]
The creative team also discussed how to appeal to audiences without undermining the original series. Since the film would be released three years after the show's conclusion, the story was tailored for slightly older viewers, with the relationship between Daigo and Rena placed at the center of the narrative.[2]
Because Daigo lost his transformation ability at the end of the series, this point became one of the film's earliest challenges. Hasegawa identified five inconsistencies with the series and submitted them to Suzuki for resolution. For example, Tiga & Dyna mentions that "since Tiga's battle with Gatanothor, he has not appeared in public, making it impossible for him to fight in the city." Based on this, Hasegawa developed a coherent framework, while Masakazu Migita focused on capturing Tiga's appeal without getting bogged down in continuity details. The resulting collaboration shaped the film's script.[2]
Hasegawa spent about two weeks refining the story and another month drafting the shooting script. By June, he completed the second version, temporarily titled "Light, Forever" , co-credited with Migita.[2] The film's premise tied Tiga's revival to the ancient ruins of "R'lyeh," first introduced in the TV series finale, where the Giants from 30 million years ago were used to build the resurrection plot.[2]
At first, the team thought that three appearances for Tiga were in line with the TV series. Suzuki later suggested starting with Tiga in a weakened state and gradually restoring his power. The main bad guy was created based on ancient legends, and he appeared as the Giants of Darkness. At first, only Camearra had dialogue, but the director asked for this to be changed. In the first version of 'Light, Forever', Hudra was a small white figure in Peru, Darramb was a tall black figure in Egypt, and Camearra was in the Arctic Sea. All of them were inside ancient statues. Kyriels also appeared in a dark cave. There, they warned Daigo about an upcoming conflict.[2][4]
By July 1999, the final script for The Final Odyssey was completed, just before filming preparations began. Due to the director's input, revisions were made to pages 96 onward, focusing on a clearer portrayal of Daigo and Rena's relationship. Filming started on September 3 using the revised script.[2]
Since the story took place in a confined setting, most scenes were filmed at the OYA History Museum in Tochigi Prefecture, representing the ruins of R'lyeh. The production experimented with long takes, for instance, the hospital scene was shot in a single continuous sequence. A wedding scene between Daigo and Rena was planned for the ending but was ultimately removed due to time constraints.[2]
To target a slightly older demographic, the studio analyzed prior audience data and concluded that focusing resources on the main feature would yield stronger engagement. As a result, no supplementary works were produced, and the film premiered nationwide on March 11, 2000, achieving success comparable to its predecessors.[2][5]
Plot[]
Two years after Ultraman Tiga's battle with Gatanothor, Daigo Madoka is seen planning his wedding with Rena Yanase. Meanwhile, on the R'lyeh ruins, a TPC task force supervised by Megumi Iruma discovers and breaks open a seal to the inner cave housing that housed the petrified bodies of three Giants of Darkness: Camearra, Darramb, and Hudra. With the seal broken, the Giants of Darkness woke from their slumber, awakened a swarm of Shibito-Zoiger, and began attacking the humans. Iruma was knocked out during the rampage and Yuzare appeared from within her to create a new seal around the island in order to stop the Giants of Darkness from leaving.
Then Camearra started to invade Daigo's dreams, causing a rift to form between him and Rena, who didn't want him to fight and transform into Tiga again. The Giants of Darkness invaded GUTS's base when Daigo was consulting Yuzare's time capsule. They beat him up before Carmeara gave Daigo the Black Sparklence. Resolving to put an end to their threat, Daigo traveled to R'lyeh on a GUTS Wing to confront the Giants of Darkness by transforming into Tiga Dark. This breaks the Yuzare's seal and allowed the darkness from the island to spread around the world. Back at TPC, the members of GUTS set out to rescue their captain from the island. When they arrive, they are attacked by a horde of Shibito-Zoiger. Soon backup arrives from the TPC trainee squad in their GUTS Wings, who would later turn out to be the future members of Super GUTS.
The first one to fight Tiga was Darramb, but his finisher was absorbed by Tiga, which allowed the hero to transform into Tiga Tornado. Tiga then used the Deracium Beam Torrent to defeat Darramb. After the battle, Tiga confronted Hudra, but the former was no match for the latter's speed. However, thanks to a detonation made by Captain Iruma, Tiga was safe from Hudra's attack. But Hudra still didn't give up and fired another shot with a direct hit on Tiga. Once again, Tiga absorbed the attack and transformed into Tiga Blast. And before Hudra could react to any movement, Tiga fired the Runboldt Beam Shell, destroying Hudra. The pulse signal from the detonator also allowed GUTS to track down the location of Captain Iruma and save her.
Back under the island, Tiga is confronted by the final Dark Giant, Camearra, who wished to destroy Tiga after losing hope of turning him back to the dark side. As both of them begin to fight each other, Camearra seemed to be gaining the upper hand, but Tiga was saved by Rena in her GUTS Wing. As Camearra was about to destroy Rena in the process, Rena was saved by Tiga. Tiga then absorbed the dark energy and converted it into light which removed all of his darkness, turning him back into Multi Type. Camearra, filled with rage that her lover cheated on her, absorbed all the surrounding darkness and transformed into Demonthor. The giant demon bombarded Tiga with attacks until he collapsed to the ground and died. Suddenly, the fallen giants of light on the island transferred their energy to Tiga and revived the hero as Glitter Tiga. Demonthor fires at Tiga but to no avail as the Ultra's body was too strong. Then Demonthor tries to eat the giant of light but was not prepared for Tiga's kamikaze attack, which killed the beast from the inside. After the battle, the island collapses. Soon after that, Daigo finds a dying Camearra who revealed to him that she also wanted to seek the light.
After the defeat of the Giants of Darkness, Daigo heads home to reunite with Rena and the other members of GUTS. Daigo and Rena then head off to live their life on Mars. In the corridor to their shuttle, they are greeted by a maintenance worker who Daigo recognizes as his future successor.
Appearances[]
Ultras[]
- Ultraman Tiga
- Multi Type
- Power Type (Stock Footage)
- Sky Type (Stock Footage)
- Tiga Dark
- Tiga Tornado
- Tiga Blast
- Glitter Tiga
- Evil Tiga (Stock Footage)
- Giants of Darkness
- Ultra-Ancient Giants of Light (Flashback)
Kaiju[]
- Shibito-Zoiger
- Kyrieloid (Stock Footage)
- Silvergon (Stock Footage)
- Gatanothor (Stock Footage)
- Geozark (Stock Footage Flashback)
- Gobnu (Ogma) (Stock Footage Flashback)
- Bizaamo (Stock Footage Flashback)
- Fire Golza (Flashback)
Cast[]
- Daigo Madoka : Hiroshi Nagano
- Rena Yanase : Takami Yoshimoto
- Megumi Iruma & Yuzare : Mio Takaki
- Seiichi Munakata : Akitoshi Otaki
- Masami Horii : Yukio Masuda
- Tetsuo Shinjoh : Shigeki Kagemaru
- Jun Yazumi : Yoichi Furuya
- Souichiro Sawai : Tamio Kawachi
- Masayuki Nahara : Take Uketa
- Tetsuji Yoshioka : Ken Okabe
- Mayumi Shinjoh : Kei Ishibashi
- Naban Yao : Ichiro Ogura
- Nagumo : Hiroyuki Konishi
- Saeki : Ryu Kano
- Camearra : Miyoko Yoshimoto
- Darramb : Masaru Matsuda
- Hudra : Tenmei Basara
- Gousuke Hibiki : Ryo Kinomoto
- Toshiyuki Kohda : Toshikazu Fukawa
- Ryo Yumimura : Risa Saito
- Kouhei Kariya : Takao Kase
- Tsutomu Nakajima : Joe Onodera
- Mai Midorikawa : Mariya Yamada
- Shin Asuka : Takeshi Tsuruno
- Priest: Scott T. Hards
- Mai's friends
- Ayano Ota
- Ayaka Tanaka
- Red balloon girl : Eiko Yamauchi
- Researcher
- Masakazu Migita
- Mayu Tsukada
- Daigo's attendant : Kazuo Tsuburaya (cameo)
- Rena's attendant : Kiyoshi Suzuki (cameo)
Voice Actors[]
- Trailer narrator: Yuji Machi (uncredited)
Suit Actors[]
- Ultraman Tiga (Tiga Dark): Keiji Hasegawa
- Ultraman Tiga (Tiga Tornado), Darramb: Koji Nakamura
- Ultraman Tiga (Tiga Blast, Multi Type), Hudra: Shunsuke Gondo
- Camearra: Motoko Nagino
- Ultra-Ancient Warriors :
- Golza: Eiji Mori
Staff[]
- Director and special effects director: Hirochika Muraishi
- Screenwriter: Keiichi Hasegawa
- Head executive producer: Kazuo Tsuburaya
- Executive producers: Makoto Shibazaki, Ryohei Tsunoda, Morihiro Kodama, Hiromi Kadokawa, Kyojiro Amano, Isoo Sakurai
- Planning: Kazuho Mitsuta, Koichi Komatsuzaki, Kazumi Kawashiro, Toshiaki Harada, Koichi Yasuda, Toru Ogawa, Shinjiro Chida
- Supervisor: Koichi Takano
- Chief producer: Kiyoshi Suzuki
- Producers: Akihiro Sato, Satoshi Kono, Takashi Hirano, Yoshihiko Marutani, Yoshimasa Mizuo, Seiji Ishikawa
- Music producer: Shizuka Tamagawa
- Music: Tatsumi Yano
- Cinematographer: Shinichi Ooka
- Art: Hiroshi Matsubara
- Lighting: Kazuo Takano
- Sound recording: Tomoharu Urata
- Practical effects: Izumi Negishi
- Assistant director: Toshiyuki Takano
- Action choreographer: Kunihide Kuruma
- Editor: Akira Matsuki
- Script supervisor: Kaoru Yamauchi
- Production manager: Mitsuo Nakai
- Production cooperation producer: Nobuyuki Koyama
- Planning cooperation: Hirofumi Morotomi, Masato Oida
- Script cooperation: Masakazu Migita
- Background art: Fuchimu Shimakura
- Second assistant directors: Hitoshi Ishikawa, Yuichi Kikuchi, Hideki Oka
- Art sub staff: Toshio Miike, Masato Inatsuki, Yoshiyuki Kasuga
- CG producer: Yoshishige Matsuno
- Visual effects coordinator: Takeshi Yagi
- Sound: Katsumi Ito
- Sound effects: Yasuyuki Konno
- Character designer: Hiroshi Maruyama
- Image boards: Kenji Hashizume
- Casting: Minoru Ando
- Assistant producer: Hiroyasu Shibuya
- Ultraman Tiga Movie Production Committee (Tsuburaya Productions, Bandai, Bandai Visual, TBS, MBS, Kodansha, Yomiuri Advertising)
- Distribution: Sony Pictures Entertainment
Releases[]
Theatrical[]
The film initially premiered in March 11, 2000 in selected Japanese theaters.
In July 2000, Ultraman Tiga: The Final Odyssey premiered in Japanese with English subtitles at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, California, as part of the annual G-Fest convention, but it was not released domestically in the United States for home viewing.
Home Video[]
- The film was first released in VHS & DVD (either purchase or rental) in December 21, 2000.
- The film was re-released as a part of Tiga, Dyna, Gaia Memorial Box The Final DVD set in November 26, 2007.
- The film was re-released in high definition (albeit upscaled from the DVD masters) for the Ultraman Tiga COMPLETE Blu-ray Box set in September 24, 2014.
Streaming[]
Owning to the issues regarding Johnny's & Associates' (an agency where Hiroshi Nagano is involved), the movie was largely unable to be released for any streaming media services, until it was released as part of TSUBURAYA IMAGINATION's streaming lineup in March/April 2022, as part of the platforms' 1st anniversary.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This movie features cameos from all the Super GUTS members:
- Hibiki, Kohda, Ryo, and Kariya are the TPC trainee pilots that helped GUTS fight off the Shibito-Zoiger.
- Mai is a student who gazes in fear of the darkness spreading around the globe.
- Nakajima is seen as the chief of a team of TPC scientists who were analyzing the sudden appearance of darkness.
- Asuka is seen as a maintenance worker at the very end.
- In Daigo's flashback in the start of the movie (many battles which Daigo/Tiga has fought 2 years ago), Ultraman Tiga's grunts were re-dubbed by Hiroshi Nagano instead of using Yuji Machi's. This may have been to provide a smoother transition between grunts and dialogue. Nagano also voiced Tiga's grunts in Superior 8 Ultra Brothers.
- Tiga's grunts in the trailer are much higher than the ones in the movie.
- When this movie was featured in episode 8 of New Ultraman Retsuden, Tiga's scenes were re-dubbed with Yuji Machi's grunts instead.
- Ultra Nyan makes a cameo appearance as an amusement park mascot.
- The Mill Creek release of the Complete Series DVD does not include the movie due to music rights issues.
External Links[]
References[]
- ↑ The Earth Is Ultraman's Planet: Ultraman Tiga, Dyna, Gaia, pg 93
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 TV Magazine Special Issue: Heisei Ultra Movie Complete Works, pg 86–87
- ↑ https://cocreco.kodansha.co.jp/telemaga/news/feature/kaijubiyori/BcCgV
- ↑ The Earth Is Ultraman's Planet: Ultraman Tiga Dyna Gaia, pg 393–412
- ↑ The Wonderful World of Fantasy Special Effects Ultraman Tiga / Ultraman Dyna / Ultraman Gaia, pg 34