Ultraman: The Adventure Begins

Ultraman: The Adventure Begins
	; VHS cover.
Production company	Hanna-Barbera; Tsuburaya Productions
Distributor	Toho
Release date	October 12, 1987
Run time	1:15:37
Starring	Michael Lembeck; Chad Everett; Adrienne Barbeau; Stacy Keach Sr.; Charley Adler; Ronnie Schell; William Callaway; Lorna Patterson; Mark Taylor
Executive producer(s)	Joseph Barbera; William Hanna; Noboru Tsuburaya
Music composed by	Shinsuke Kazato
Story by	Noboru Tsuburaya
Screenplay by	John Eric Seward
Storyboard artists	Seiji Okuda; Makoto Nagao; Mitsuo Kusakabe; Toshitarou Ohba
Director(s)	Mitsuo Kusakabe; Gordon Hunt (voices)
Art director(s)	Akira Furuya
	Title card
	Second title card

Ultraman: The Adventure Begins is an American-Japanese sci-fi/action/superhero animated television film based on the Japanese Ultra Q/Ultraman live-action series which began in 1966. It was jointly produced by Hanna-Barbera and Tsuburaya Productions, with cooperation from Sign Sign Productions, Ashi Productions, Studio Goods, Suwara Productions, and Seion Studio. It aired on October 12, 1987 in first-run syndication. It was written by John Eric Seward, produced by Noboru Tsuburaya, directed by Mitsuo Kusakabe, and voice directed by Gordon Hunt. In Japan, it was distributed theatrically as ウルトラマンUSA (Urutoraman Yū Esu Ē or Ultraman USA) by Toho on April 28, 1989.

Detailed summary

Memorable quotes

Characters

Legend
Character debut	Speaking debut	Ep. debut	No lines	Mentioned

In order of appearance:

Character	Actor
Reporter	David Hall
Captain Chuck Gavin/Ultraman Gavin	Chad Everett
Lieutenant Beth O'Brien/Ultrawoman Beth	Adrienne Barbeau
Lieutenant Scott Masterson/Ultraman Scott	Michael Lembeck
Beth's parents
Telegram boy	Unavailable
Green Shocks	N/A
Walter Freeman	Stacy Keach Sr.
Abraham Lincoln
Andy	Charley Adler
Samson	Ronnie Schell
Ulysses	William Callaway
Fisherman #1	Unavailable
Fisherman #2	Unavailable
Garuballade	N/A
Cameraman	Unavailable
Photographer	Vince Trankina
Doctor Susan Rand	Lorna Patterson
President of the United States
F.E.R. scientist #1	David Hall
T-shirt seller	Unavailable
Skier	Unavailable
Zoon	N/A
Doctor Mark Watkins	Mark Taylor
Doctor Philby	Les Tremayne
Colonel	Allan Lurie
Soldier	Unavailable
F.E.R. pilot	Unavailable
King Myra	Unavailable

Organizations

United States Air Force
Flying Angels
Ultra Force
Foundation for Extraterrestrial Research
United States Army
United States Navy (mentioned)

Locations

Earth
- United States
  - Louisiana
    - New Orleans
  - California
    - San Fransisco
    - Bodega Bay
  - Utah
    - Ski resort
  - New Mexico
    - Encino's Creek
  - Flying Angels headquarters
  - Georgia
    - Georgia National Golf Club
- South Dakota
  - Mount Rushmore
  - New York
The Moon
The Sun
Altara
M11

Objects

Asteroid
Neural Interphaser

Vehicles

Flying Angels' jets
Fire trucks
Ambulance
Ultra Force's jets
Ultra Force's mother ship
F.E.R. Labs helicopter
Subway train
Train
F.E.R. van

Production

Development

Filming

It was copyrigted in 1987.

Music

Main article: Ultraman USA (soundtrack)

The Ultraman theme was composed by Shunichi Tokura, while the rest of the music was composed by Shinsuke Kazato. The musical producer and musical director are Hidetoshi Kimura and Kazuo Kogure, respectively.

On April 21, 1989, Columbia released the film's soundtrack compact disc of the movie for the Japanese market.

Crew credits

Creative producers for Hanna-Barbera: Jeff Segal, Kelly Ward
Supervising director: Ray Patterson
Associate directors: Hiroshi Negishi, Toshitarou Ohba
Key animators and layout artists: Kazuo Iimura, Osamu Tsuruyama, Masateru Kudoh, Nobuyoshi Habara
Storyboard artists: Seiji Okuda, Makoto Nagao, Mitsuo Kusakabe, Toshitarou Ohba
Creative designer: Iwao Takamoto
Key character designer: Floro Dery
Key background supervisor: Al Gmuer
Character designer: Kazuo Iimura
Background designer: Akira Furuya
Model designers and key artists: Tomohiko Satoh, Keita Amamiya, Hirotsugu Murayama, Chisato Sugiura, Hitoshi Yoshida
Casting director: Andrea Romano
Talent coordinator: Kris Zimmerman
Sound director: Noriyoshi Matsuura
Editorial supervisors: Larry C. Cowan, Joe Sandusky
Film editor: Naoyuki Masaki
Technical producers: Masaru Umehara, Masanori Kobayashi
Hanna-Barbera executive in charge of production: Jayne Barbara
Executive coordinator: Jimmy Ugawa
Production assistants: Tadashi Nakamura, Brenda Rees, Eric Lewald, John Loy, Dolores Summer
Production supervisors: Masayoshi Ozaki, Ken Mimura
Associate producers: Naoyuki Eto, Sussie Tamagawa

Release

Dates are in order of release:

United States: October 12, 1987 on in syndication
Japan: April 28, 1989 in theaters

Behind the scenes

Unique to Hanna-Barbera cartoons, this features obvious inescapable deaths, such as King Myra crushing a tank that had no visible escape for the soldier.

Errors

When the poolside where Scott is, the faces of the other guests are devoid of any details.

In popular culture

Marketing and promotion

Critical reception

In other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ウルトラマンUSA (Urutoraman Yū Esu Ē)	Ultraman USA

Home availability

In Japan:
- September 29, 1989: Bandai Home Video releases Ultraman USA on DVD.
- July 25, 1991: Bandai Home Video releases Ultraman on LaserDisc.
- September 26, 2018: Bandai Visual releases Ultraman USA on Blu-ray Disc.
In the United States:
- June 2, 1993: Ultra Action Video and L.A. Hero Inc. releases Ultraman: The Adventure Begins on VHS.

Trailers

References