Zone Fighter (series)

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Zone Fighter
Zone Fighter (series)
Air date April 2, 1973 - September 24, 1973
Producer(s) Kimihiko Eto, Shunji Takahashi, Yoshio Nishikawa
Distributor Toho
Channel(s) Nippon Television[1]
Genre(s) Kyodai Hero
Episodes 26

Zone Fighter (流星人間ゾーン,   Ryūsei Ningen Zōn, lit. Meteor Human Zone) is a Japanese tokusatsu kaiju show produced by Toho that ran from April 2, 1973 to September 24, 1973. The series is notable for including appearances by Godzilla, Gigan, and King Ghidorah, placing the show in the Showa canon. NTV cancelled Zone Fighter after 26 episodes due to poor ratings, leaving the story's central conflict unresolved.[2]

Plot

The evil Garogas plan to take over Earth with their army of giant Terror-Beasts. They are opposed by the Zone Family, hailing a planet called Peaceland that was destroyed by Garoga. The family uses a variety of exotic vehicles and weapons, but their best defense against Garogas is their oldest child Hikaru, who is able to transform into the giant Zone Fighter.

Godzilla occasionally helped Zone Fighter battle the Terror-Beasts, and even sparred with him in their spare time.

King Ghidorah's origin was changed, with the Garogas claiming they created him. He was able to avoid death at the hands of Zone Fighter, unusual for a villain on the show.

Gigan also appeared in the show, having been captured by the Garogas after fleeing from Godzilla and Jet Jaguar. He did not share King Ghidorah's luck; he was dramatically killed by Zone Fighter's missile might bracelets.

Production

Main articles: Toho Monster TV Film Project: Zone The Meteor Man, [[ and Toho Special Effects Terror-Beast Series: Zone The Meteor Man - Production Memo]].

Episodes

  1. Destroy the Terror-Beast Missile!
  2. Attack! Destro-King
  3. Strike! Garoga's Underground Base
  4. Invasion! Garoga's Grand Army: Godzilla Appears
  5. Attack King Ghidorah!
  6. King Ghidorah's Counterattack!
  7. Zone Family's Critical Moment!
  8. Defeat the Invader of Fear!
  9. Find the Secret of the Red Spider!
  10. Zone Fighter, Destroyed!
  11. In a Hair's Breadth: The Roar of Godzilla!
  12. The Terror-Beast Base: Invade the Earth!
  13. Hair-Raising! The Birthday of Terror
  14. Rampage! The Garoga Boys Attack Force
  15. It's Sinking! Godzilla, Save Tokyo
  16. Terrifying Attack! The Garoga Robot
  17. Go! Fighter, Scramble
  18. Command: "Destroy the Japanese Islands"
  19. Order: "Destroy the Earth with Comet K"
  20. Fierce Fight! Can You Hear Fighter's Song?
  21. Invincible! Godzilla Rages
  22. Counterattack! Defeat Super Jikiro
  23. Secret of the Great Terror-Beast Bakugon
  24. Defeat the Needle Shooting Terror-Beast Needlar
  25. Carnage! Zone & Godzilla vs. the Allied Terror-Beast Forces
  26. Pulverize! The Garoga Gamma-X Strategy

Staff

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

  • Directed by   Ishiro Honda, Jun Fukuda, Akiyasu Kikuchi, Kengo Furusawa, Kohei Oguri, and Masao Minowa
  • Written by   Masaru Takesue, Satoshi Kurumi, Jun Fukuda, Yuji Amamiya, Akira Ishikari, Juro Shimamoto, Kazuhisa Hattori, Kohei Oguri, Motoo Nagai, Norio Komata, Shinichi Kanzawa, Shiro Ishimori, Shozo Uehara, Susumu Takeuchi, and Yoshihisa Araki
  • Executive producing by   Tomoyuki Tanaka
  • Produced by   Kimihiko Eto, Shunji Takahashi, and Yoshio Nishikawa
  • Music by   Goh Misawa
  • Edited by   Yoshio Tamura, Isao Takeda, and Hisashi Kondo
  • Assistant directing by   Kiyotaka Matsumoto and Shinichi Kanzawa
  • Special effects by   Teruyoshi Nakano, Koichi Kawakita, Kichio Tabuchi, and Shinichi Kanzawa

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

  • Kazuya Aoyama   as   Hikaru Sakimori / Zone Fighter
  • Kazumi Kitahara   as   Hotaru Sakimori / Zone Angel
  • Kenji Sato   as   Akira Sakimori / Zone Junior
  • Shoji Nakayama   as   Yoichiro Sakimori
  • Sachiko Kouizuki   as   Tsukiko Sakimori
  • Shiro Amakusa   as   Raita Sakimori / Zone Great
  • Hideaki Obara   as   Takeru Jou

Appearances

Characters and Monsters

Weapons, Vehicles, and Races

  • Garogas (Gold Garoga; Silver Garoga(s); White Garoga; Red Garoga; Garoga X Squadron)
Hikaru, Hotaru and Akira before they transform
Hikaru, Hotaru, and Akira after they transform

Gallery

Production

Video Releases

Trivia

  • The suits reused and constructed for the kaiju and Terror-Beasts in the series are of considerably better construction and design than Toho's previous tokusatsu series.
    • In addition, the sets are also in better condition, and have a quality about them which is almost identical to Toho's late Showa era films.
  • Supplementary material issued by Toho after the series' conclusion revealed that this series is included in the Showa era continuity, taking place between Godzilla vs. Megalon and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.

References

This is a list of references for Zone Fighter (series). These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

  1. SciFi Japan: ZONE FIGHTER Series Guide
  2. [www.scifijapan.com/articles/2009/11/14/zone-fighter-series-guide ZONE FIGHTER Series Guide]

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Television show
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