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Spectreman (スペクトルマン Supekutoruman) is a science fiction tokusatsu TV series produced by P Productions and created by producer Souji Ushio. The series aired on Fuji TV from January 2, 1971 to March 25, 1972 with a total of 63 episodes.

Synopsis

Banished from the peaceful simian Planet E, the mad scientist Dr. Gori and his brutish assistant Karas search for a new planet to rule after Gori's plot to conquer Planet E had been foiled by its government. Coming across Earth, Gori is captivated by its beauty but appalled by its inhabitants' misuse of its environment, leading to severe pollution, so humankind must be quickly conquered if this planet is to be inhabitable. He plots to use the pollution that is plaguing Earth to create horrible, giant, rampaging monsters to wipe out and/or enslave humankind.

Hope comes in the form of the Nebula 71 Star, a Saturn-like artificial satellite that observes Earth incognito. Fearing that Gori may eventually make Earth uninhabitable, they dispatch Spectreman, their super-cyborg agent, to battle the menace of the mad apeman. Spectreman disguises himself as a Japanese man named Jôji Gamô to walk among the humans and scout out Gori's weekly menace for the Nebula 71 Star. He works with a government-run group called the Pollution G-Men, run by Chief Kurata. This group investigates phenomena involving pollution, but they do not have the facilities to handle giant monsters, so unbeknownst to them, their comical-yet-mysterious teammate Jòji disappears on them, only to help them as Spectreman!


Dubbing History[]

The entire 63-episode Spectreman series was dubbed into English and syndicated to television stations across North America, including Superstation TBS, starting in the fall of 1978 (more than seven years after the Japanese premiere). The English dub was co-written and performed by character actor Mel Welles. While the US version is faithful to the original show for the most part, the most notable change is the new theme song created by a song writing team using the song "The First Day of Forever" from the album Awakening by the Mystic Moods Orchestra. The instrumental version was used as a substitute for the Japanese language theme song, and was played over action scenes. The instrumental version of the Japanese theme song was usually left alone. Other changes were edits to remove some of the violence considered too intense for a US children's show at the time. The dialog was sometimes altered to add some of Welles' offbeat humor. While once available on VHS, the US version has not been released on DVD.

An alternate English dub of Spectreman is known to exist, using the original character names. Little information about this dub is known.

Cast[]

Character Original Name Original Actor Dub Actor
George / Spectreman Jôji Gamô / Spectreman Tetsuo Narikawa Corey Burton
Chief Kurata Tōru Ōhira Mel Gaines
Otto Takashi Ota Kazuo Arai Charles Howerton
Dr. Gori Kiyoshi Kobayashi
(eps. 1-10, 19-29)
Rodd Dana
Seizō Katō
(eps. 11-18)
Ren Nishiyama
(eps. 30-63)
Karas Lla Kōji Uenishi Mel Welles
Overlord Nebula Kyōji Kobayashi
Narrator Charles Howerton

Additional Voices[]

Transmission[]

Date(s) Channel Country
1978-1980 Syndication United States United States

Video Releases[]

Distributor Year Format Contents Region Country
Wonderland Video 1984 VHS Episodes 1-22 NTSC United States United States
11 Volumes

See Also[]

External Links[]

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