Birth of a New Hero!!

Hey kids (of all ages), it's Saturday Morning Cartoon time again!

Last week's Saturday upload was 1978's FREEDOM FORCE, a short-lived Filmation superhero 'toon that included Super Samurai, whom I described as a "less sci-fi version of Ultraman".

Now, the name Ultraman has been used in DC comic books for various alternate universe, bad guy counterparts to Superman. It was also used in self-reference by a teenager with superpowers in the late '80s sitcom MY SECRET IDENTITY. But I wasn't writing about those guys...

You see, back in the '60s and early '70s, Japan sent us a show featuring a giant super-dude doing battle with leftovers from Godzilla's movies. ULTRAMAN was a live-action program, done with the titular hero in a silver and red wetsuit judo-fighting rubber-suit monsters in the midst of miniature buildings while the Science Patrol flew around in toy planes on strings with small pyrotechnics in them... We freakin' loved it!!!

Ultraman spawned a whole franchise of follow-ups, including cartoons! Today we have a classic bit of Japanimation (from before everyone got uppity and rechristened it 'anime') introducing a new incarnation in 2D.

From 1979.
.