Ultraman is big in Japan but has had a tough time finding success in America.
Jeff Gomez is working to change that.
TheUltramanfranchise is a cultural juggernaut in Japan.
In the west howeverUltramannever quite took off in the same way.
Its still fondly remembered and the character was even featured in a couch gag on the Simpsons.
Still, it hasnt been able to reach the level of popularity it enjoys in Japan.
Recently thoughUltramanhas been poised to gain traction in the west once more.
Still,Ultramanhas a lot of ground to cover to increase its profile in the west.
One person helping it along is Jeff Gomez and his company, Starlight Runner Entertainment.
A little Bugs Bunny cartoon was not going to do it for me.
Tell me a little bit about the story about how your company formed this new partnership with Tsuburaya.
So, licensing is my friend.
And I said, Danny, if thats the case, you have to take me with you!
And we got it!
The Japanese at Tsuburaya Productions just said you know what, youre right.
Whats it like to work with you guys?
The kind of ways that you talked about of expanding Ultraman out and getting Americans to understand the franchise?
So the original Ultraman was more kind of dark.
And I think thats what they responded to, to the pitch.
What was the whole research process for that like?
The first meetings were really truly the benefit of being a highly experienced nerd.
I was an informed geek, and so those were my observations.
So if you look at Ultraman as a single epic, a 50 year story, thats awesome.
What are some of the biggest challenges in bringing Ultraman to America?
And look, those are all caveats and precautions that are well considered, you know.
Those are things we have to think about.
But the fun of working with Ultraman is okay, how do we get around that?
What would it be like now, today?
What kind of balances would have to occur?
How would the world community respond to these kinds of situations?
Well to me thats really intriguing.
What do they symbolize, what aspect of ourselves exists in both the kaiju and these Ultraman heroes?
Do you ever worry that some people are just not going to take it seriously?
Or is that part of the challenge for you?
What is the secret to geek love?
What is the secret to us becoming truly fans with a story world that we stumble upon?
And thats something that Starlight Runner really specializes in.
Were building the story world but were not gonna do it without you.
There is no Ultraman without his fans and that to me is the secret to making this super cool.
And then, so speaking of fans.
Fans often have particular ideas about how things should be.
For example, there are some Ultraman fans who think there should be 500 Ultramen in any live-action movie.
A lot of it has to do with some forethought.
Where are you and your company at now with the franchise?
Are you still doing these deep dives and coming up with mythology documents for Tsuburaya?
Thats exactly where were at.
Were in the process of generating the mythology documents.
Our cosmology, how the universe works has to be spot on.
And so, were pulling from everywhere to see to it that that works out.
And that allows them to team up from time to time.
Similar I guess to what happens with the Power Ranger characters.
So heres how it works.
But it wasnt easy to find.
Its something thats mentioned in an episode somewhere in the middle of this 50 year continuity.
And that allows us to proudly wave our geek flag.
And so they would reference past series and other Ultraman and explain a few things.
But yep, yeah.
Thats exactly what we do.
We look around, because when you find it within the intellectual property, what could be better?
Go ahead, use that.
What do they want?
Where do they go when theyre destroyed by Ultraman?
Well those are distant mountains that are worthy of exploration.
There he delves deeper into similar work on other franchises and talks more about his personal history withUltraman.
