Ultraman DVD Set Defect?

[SaviniFan]

I was a BIG fan of the Ultraman series as a child and last week to my delight, I saw 2 new box sets in my local Best Buy. I picked up the first set and overall I'm very happy. The transfers are quite good and you have the option of watching in English dubbed or the original Japanese track. This is where the problem comes in however....

For nastalgia sake I chose the English track in the DVD menu before starting the first episode. Everything was fine until about 20 minutes in, it switched to the Japanese track. For about 2 scenes I attempted to use the audio button on my remote to switch it back but to no avail. Then it just decided to use the English track on it's own.

I've been through 8 episodes so far and I'm on DVD #2 of 3 in the set and the same problem occurs. I even tried it on a different player in my house as I know that sometimes incompatabilities arise from certain players. So I've tried on a Philips and JVC, leading me to believe this is an authoring issue. Seeing Brentwood had a hand in releasing these, somehow I'm not surprised.

Anyone else have these and are you experiencing the same issue? I really want to get the second set but this is a real pain.

[SaviniFan]

Nevermind....DVD Review has set me straight as to the problem:

"BCI Home Entertainment has prepared the original, uncut versions of the episodes for this DVD release. Since parts of these have never been aired in the US you will find that occasionally the show will switch back to Japanese language as no English dubs exist. In those instances subtitles will be displayed on the screen, of course, to make sure you can still follow the action."

[Workshed]

That actually sounds pretty cool. Does the show hold up?

[SaviniFan]

Originally Posted by Workshed

That actually sounds pretty cool. Does the show hold up?

Absolutely. It's cheesy and the FX are what you would expect from Toho on a smaller budget. If you are any kind of kaiju fan, Ultraman makes for some excellent entertainment.

I was wondering if anyone has seen the newer episodes, the ones that were made after the original 1960's series. If so, how do they compare? These are so much fun I'd like to hear that perhaps the new ones are just as good.

Now, where is my Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot box set?

[MorallySound]

I have Series 1, Vol.1. I've had it since August I think. Great set. I wanna get Vol. 2.

[Shannafey]

Originally Posted by MorallySound

I have Series 1, Vol.1. I've had it since August I think. Great set. I wanna get Vol. 2.

Believe it or not, I recently got a used copy of Vol. 1 at Gamestop for $10.

[rxfiend]

actually, an English dub exists for each episode, uncut. However, BCI was not able to get full english dubs from Chaiyo (the company that many believe stole the Ultraman license from Tsubaryo (however you spell that name)). If you check out kaiju sites, the battle between the two companies is quite extensive as basically Chaiyo owns the Ultraman licenses outside Japan for the first few series. Really fucked up situation.

There are bootlegs out there with the full english dub, so if BCI really wanted to, they could have gotten a hold of them. At any rate, I'm satisfied with the collection. Too bad they aren't going to do anymore.