Today, the big three of tokusatsu always have a film these day, each series getting a new movie with each new series in the meta-franchise. That is the thing new, now a days we have plenty of 10 years later specials for sentai and now Kamen Rider. But back in the 90's, just in the case of sentai since it was the only one taht was very active, once your season was over you never saw them again, that would change with Ohranger which gave teh previous team one final hurrah. But this is about Ultraman if you couldn't tell by the title. During its time on air, Tiga didn't have a movie, probably budget related reasons since the following Dyna and Gaia had movies around their time but Tiga was initally the only 90's series without a film, that was until 2000, 3 years after the series finale that tiga got a film. Though it wasn't the end for revisiting the series as a year later, an additional gaiden story was also released for the franchise.
THE FINAL ODYSSEY
2 years after the final battle against Gatanothor, Daigo's day's of fighting as Tiga seem long past as he is preparing to marry Rena, but things start to turn a bit sour in their relationship as a mysterious figure begins to torment Daigo's dreams. Meanwhile in the ruins of R'yleh, an excavation team lead by Captain Iruma uncovers three more giants. Unfortuneatly these are giants of darkness that proceeds to massacre the team sans Iruma who seals them on the island. As the giants begin their plans to plunge the world into darkness, revelations regarding Tiga and his relationship to the giants in the past.
What I do like about this film is exploring the lore regarding Tiga, his past as a giant of darkness and his relationship to Camearra. It's a nice bit of worldbuilding as our hero used to be evil and we see some of what he did in the past. Ultimately Daigo is a good person and his time as Tiga dark has no moments of evil aside from dreams he has and mostly fights the new giants of dark. And that is most of the movie, Tiga fighting each of the giants of darkness as he regains his colors while the member of GUTS fight an army of Shibito-Zoiger.
Really a lot of the plot stuff regarding possible issues in Daigo and Rena's relationship don't really matter, they try to make an issue of it but its mostly resolved as they reaffirm before he goes on his own, kind of forgetting the whole arc he had near end game that he wasn't alone in this fight. Meanwhile the new giants of darkness are fine, Darramb and Hudra are the big brute heavy and the psychopath. Camearra is the one who gets the most, being Tiga's Ex gives this interesting dynamic since they had a relationship, she mostly is the crazy jealous ex that won't leave you alone, but she provides the biggest challenge to Tiga and we do see that beneath it she did desire light too.
But much of the film is about the fighting and it's fine... most of it takes place on the ruins of R'yleh in the caverns and city as Tiga regains his colors. But that does come to my issue with the film, its over an hour and 35 minutes, but it feels like it haves half the amount for a runtime for me, yes their are some setup for dyna with some cameo's but at a point when I start looking at a clock wondering when this is going to end, that is not a good sign. Its a fine time that helps to build the world, but a bit too long for its own good.
REVIVAL OF THE ANCIENT GIANT
Sometime after the event of Dyna, Daigo and Rena's son Tsubasa has followed in their footsteps and joined Neo Super Guts. On his way back after a mission, he's attacked by a Kaiju but before he can call for backup, he's pulled into a wormhole transporting him and the kaiju back 5000 years where he becomes part of the legend of a village guarded by Tiga.
Trading out the sci-fi futuristic setting for a more fantasy adventure, gaiden does have quite the interesting setting, even if the title really is not the revival of the ancient giant, more so an origin of the myth that we would learn about in the first episode, I guess he is revived to fight against the evil sorceror, which even then it very much is less ultraman and more dark-fantasy. With it focusing more on the humans battling the giant monsters. Which I do thinks work to give him a lot more mystique akin to the first episode.
there is still a connection to Ultraman's roots in the form Of Tsubasa, basically his father, this was suppose to be Daigo but scheduling conflicts with actor Hiroshi Nagano meant that a new character had to be made. But I don't think they fully rewrote it since Tsubasa believes he can unlock Tiga's power not like having a bit of concern of could he live up to the legacy of his father and transform. he very much feels like a case of Daigo was suppose to be the main character and it was probably a very late decision, especially since this show casts many of the casts of not only Tiga, but Dyna and Gaia in the past, like Rena Yamazaki playing the traveling warrior who initally finds the bronze sparklence.
Though villain wise, it is fairly standard evil wizard bent on world domination and controling monsters. Though on the other hand how the heroes are dealt with is cool, Tsubasa ends up not being able to bring out the best in Tiga, so that ends up going down to the young boy he befriends Amui, who goes through similar things to Daigo, in that he believes in something the others don't believe and comes in to save the day at the end. I really did like that switch they pull and given the specials more fantastic setting, makes the fights more unique in that instant as they have to use more primitive weapons against the opponents.
Revival of the ancient is a really good look at the past of Tiga. It's unique for Ultraman standards fantasy setting gives it its own unique flavor. Setting up what we would see in the first episode while offering a different, more human approach to kaiju fighting that for me is fairly different. Between the two I would say I would recommend this more over Final odyssey, final odyssey is an okay sendoff, but nothing stand out, while this is a solid series.
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