Ultraman: Towards the Future (yes, it was produced in Australia, not New Zealand) is one of my favorite Ultra Series! I saw it when it premiered on Fox Kids on January 4, 1992, but heard of it when reading a 1990 issue of Hobby Japan (and was excited upon seeing the commercials for it on New Year's Day that time), and, not surprisingly, was my favorite show at that time. (The only other cool show Fox Kids aired around the same time was the pilot for Defenders of Dynatron City, which reminded me of Mighty Orbots, only with superheroes; It was also animated by Tokyo Movie Shinsha!) It's a shame it only aired once without reruns, but I was at least able to catch each and every episode when it ran.
I know the Australians who saw this series all seemed to hate it, and also, the show was criticized in Japan for having "shabby video composition" or for being "too serious and not thrilling enough." Here in the US, it was a minor success, its early morning broadcast notwithstanding. (It was helped by merchandise, especially the Dreamworks toys and the SNES game by Bandai.) It was kind of overshadowed by the Ninja Turtles fad (which was buried completely by the failure of the godawful Ninja Turtles III, and ultimately, just a couple of months later, a certain localized 16th Super Sentai), but I was surprised that it's gotten a pretty good response by the sci-fi crowd in the US.
The series was coproduced by the South Australian Film Commission (SAFC), and was Tsuburaya's attempt to break Ultraman into the US market. Originally, in 1988, Tsuburaya Productions was going to produce a 90 minute pilot and then full series for the unfilmed 1969 concept Ultraman Continues (Zoku Urutoraman) (in which Hayata finds a successor to the Beta Capsule; This was what eventually became Return of Ultraman), due to the resurgence of the popularity of the series due to reruns of the original series on TV, but overseas deals halted production. Tsuburaya announced in late 1989 that they were coproducing an Ultra Series with Teletrib (Tales From the Darkside), but the deal with Teletrib fell through, before Tsuburaya decided to try an Australian company instead, and production began in earnest.
The cast is impressive (especially Japanese/Hungarian stage/film actor Dore Kraus as Jack Shindo), the orchestral music by Shinsuke Kazato is excellent, and the special effects (directed by Paul Nicola and consulted by Tsuburaya vet Kouichi Takano) are quite powerful, especially in the dynamic first episode! I especially love the monsters in this show (designed by Jou Yoshida)! My favorites include Bogun (Brohz), Gerukadon, Barrangas, Majaba, Ryugalo, and Kilazee (Shillagi). Ultraman Great himself, of course, is designed by Hiroshi Maruyama, who has pretty much designed all of the Ultras since then to this day! Series director Andrew Prowse directed episodes of Farscape.
Did anyone see the original test footage for this series? Some footage from this is seen briefly in the first episode (the closeup of Gudis' eye after Ultraman stuns him; It has an angry brow!) It's rather weird, but pretty unique! Basically, elaborate rubber puppets of Ultraman and Gudis fighting each other on the Mars terrain. Not exactly up to the standards of Gerry Anderson or Jim Henson, but not too shabby.
Amazingly, when Bandai submitted their designs of the UMA mecha (the Hummer and Saltop), SAFC rejected Bandai's designs, saying that "they just won't work," so they did their own designs. (A plus, IMHO.)
BTW, there is no official DVD release of this series, even in Japan. IIRC, I was told that Tsuburaya has given up licensing this series and Ultraman: the Ultimate Hero, due largely to the production nightmares for Tsuburaya on both series. It's a shame, but I really hope they release it on DVD eventually.
