As much as Godzilla stomps buildings and eats telephone wires, he'll never measure up to Ultraman, the benevolent bug-faced alien who's spent 23 years battling bizarre monsters from outer space.
Noboru Tsuburaya says the time has come for audiences around the world to see the other side of his father, Eiji Tsuburaya, the man who created the reptillian Godzilla, Japan's most infamous movie monster.That other side is Ultraman, who Tsuburaya says is still the ultimate Japanese superhero, and the special-effect wizard's most important legacy.
"Ultraman will be a much greater hit than Godzilla ever was," said the younger Tsuburaya, now president of the production company that owns rights to the superhero.
So confident is the 53-year-old Tsuburaya, that he is preparing to set Ultraman loose in the most difficult market of all - the United States. A new 13-part series is to be syndicated next year by New York-based Teletrib.
"America is the home of the entertainment industry, and though Japan exports material goods, it lags behind in pop culture," he said. "Ultraman will change that pattern."
Rights to broadcast an old Ultraman spin-off series in North America have been purchased by Turner Broadcasting System, and translation of the dialogue has already been completed. Ultraman will also be shown in the European market, primarily France, later this year.
And just who is this Ultraman and what is his story?
Ultraman and other inhabitants of several planets in the M78 star cluster have been sent to protect Earth from attack by interplanetary intruders and Earth-born mutants, which range from giant crayfish to fluffy snowmen.
Many of the monsters come from Tokyo Bay, making the series a statement against pollution and radiation, Tsuburaya said. "The monsters aren't all bad, but the wasteful, polluting people who created them are."
Each installment ends with spectacular fights, usually in drab industrial areas in Tokyo with lots of buildings to smash and electric lines to break, after Ultraman transforms himself into a 130-foot, 35,000-ton giant.
For the animated export to America, Tsuburaya has elaborated on his father's idea, having a Stars-and-Stripes clad Ultraman enter a special base through Abraham Lincoln's mouth in Mount Rushmore.
Aside from the cosmetic changes, the Ultraman story is universal, Tsuburaya said. "He is a Japanese superhero and an international superhero."
After debuting on the Tokyo Broadcasting System network in July 1966, the Ultraman series was followed by seven spinoffs, including "Ultra Seven," "Ultraman Returns" and the animated "Ultraman 80," which went off the air in 1981. The network still airs weekly reruns.
Over the years, Ultraman and his ultrarelatives have done battle with more than 600 monsters, including Godzilla.
"But the TV producers had to promise to change the monster's name and design to get permission to use the Godzilla suit from the movie studio which owns his rights," Tsuburaya said. Ultraman, of course, won the fight.
Like Superman's problem with kryptonite, Ultraman has a weakness: as a giant he burns up energy at an incredible pace and can only remain ultrasized for three minutes at a time.
Myojo Foods used that shortcoming in TV ads starring Ultraman to promote its three-minute instant noodles. The superhero has also endorsed a bank and publicized a booklet on national defense.
Tsuburuya says sales of Ultraman products, including diapers, chopsticks, golf bags and cigarette lighters, have quadrupled over the last three years.
"Sales of Ultraman goods alone annually bring in revenues in the 1 billion yen ($7.6 million) range," he said. "If he's a hit in America, that could easily increase by one digit."
In March, Ultraman starred in three Tokyo Broadcasting System television specials - a movie, a prime-time dramatization of how he was created and a the-making-of-Ultraman documentary.
Tsuburaya has other big plans for Ultraman.
He envisions a theme park where a 330-foot Ultraman will beam his smile - and cable TV signals - over the surrounding countryside.