Ultraman Towards the Future AKA Ultraman Great part 10

In one episode the F18 models again feature flying over a miniature landscape with a volcanic anomaly caused by the Goudis monster.

 

The set was built by Tony Lees, mostly from polyurethane pouring foam with the background rock formations out of polystyrene foam. Once again some very impressive scenic art by Len Armstrong in the painted cloudy sky.

 

 

 The glowing volcanic protrusion was made from heat forming a perspex sheet and backlighting it with orange gels. It was covered with polyurethane foam which was carved into detailed rock shapes. Fine cork chips provide the small crust details.

 

Dry ice was used for the low lying steam and mist.

 

A squadron of FA18 models hung from the overhead wire cable for straight flight. The top most aircraft is in a banking turn which means it was hung from the boom rig.

In the picture below the lead aircraft is again on the boom arm and is swinging in an arc and banking to look like it is peeling off from the formation.

 

 

Boom hung model aircraft over the glowing lava field. You can see the wires that go to the wing tips which go up and over a pulley on a small 12 volt geared motor at the end of the boom. Rotating the motor forward or reverse banks the aircraft left or right. The model is supported by two other wires one at the nose and one at the tail.

 

Here the formation of models are on the cable that goes across the studio and travel in a straight line. No banking is required on this rig.

 

 The UMA Hummers are sent out to deal with the anomaly. Above is one of the hummer models with a blast from either a smoke machine or liquid CO2 aimed at the volcanic centre.

 

A larger scale section of the rock wall was built for some close up pyro action. It was a large perspex sheet, backlit, with vertical rock pieces attached. Paul Fardouly and myself are up top getting ready to pour methocel ( a clear food thickener) and cork chips down the surface for a flowing lava effect. The string across the top has a series of strips of a pyrotechnic material that will ignite and drop down into frame to simulate falling hot rocks from the volcanic activity. Steve Newman Miniatures unit DOP with the camera on a jib (left) and Phillip Hearnshaw 2nd unit director (striped shorts) on the right.

 

 

Paul Fardouly and I are both wearing safety face shields due to the proximity of the pyro explosions as well as the flaming volcanic debris raining down. These shots were from the POV of an attacking aircraft. The Camera is wrapped in thick foil to protect it from the pyro. The lens has a matte box with a clear glass filter installed to protect it.

 

 

 The Goudis monster puppet in his second incarnation. It is a different form from the version in episode one  so a new puppet Goudis was built for this episode.

 

 

Puppeteer Ross Browning operating the Goudis mk2 puppet. Steve Newman operating the Arii SRII 16mm camera.

The picture above shows the new Goudis with a cable controlled Ultraman puppet built by Warren Beaton. The Ultraman puppet although pretty sophisticated was not able to do all the fighting action that eventually it was called upon to do. When we started Ultraman none of us realised the importance of the one on one fighting scenes to the show and the Japanese producers. Most of us had never seen an episode as it was never shown in Australia. As I understand it, eventually this conceptual over-sight lead to a great deal of political upheaval between the main unit in Adelaide South Australia and the miniatures unit in Sydney. The end result was that a series of the monsters was additionally made into men in suits and a new unit was set up in Adelaide to film some fight sequences on a couple of outdoor miniature sets. This all came with an added cost to the South Australian Film Corporation's budget, who were the Australian producers of the show. As I was not involved in this unit I have no photographs or information about its work.

 The picture above shows Adam Newcombe puppeteering the Goudis mk2 and Ultraman puppets locked in a strange embrace with Paul Moyes the model unit Gaffer assisting.

Thanks for looking, more soon.