Zone Fighter (1973)
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Zone Fighter (流星人間ゾーン Ryūsei Ningen Zōn, lit. "Meteor Human Zone") is a Japanese tokusatsu kaiju television series co-produced by Toho Eizo and Man-Nen-Sha which aired on Nippon TV from April 2 to September 24, 1973. The series is notable for including appearances by the Godzilla, Gigan, and King Ghidorah from the Showa Godzilla series, placing it in those films' canon. Nippon TV canceled the series after 26 episodes due to poor ratings, leaving the story's central conflict unresolved.[1]
Plot
The evil Garogas plan to take over Earth with their army of giant Terror-Beasts. They are opposed by the Zone Family, hailing from a planet called Peaceland that was destroyed by the Garogas. The family uses a variety of exotic vehicles and weapons, but their best defense against the Garogas is their oldest child Hikaru, who is able to transform into the giant hero named Zone Fighter.
Godzilla occasionally helped Zone Fighter battle the Terror-Beasts, and even sparred with him in their spare time.
King Ghidorah appeared in the series, controlled by the Garogas. He was able to avoid death at the hands of Zone Fighter, unusual for the show's villains.
Gigan also appeared, having been captured by the Garogas after fleeing from Godzilla and Jet Jaguar. He did not share King Ghidorah's luck, however; he was dramatically killed by Zone Fighter's Meteor Missile Might gauntlets.
Production
- Main articles: Toho Monster TV Film Project: Zone The Meteor Man, Toho Special Effects Terror-Beast Series: Zone The Meteor Man - Production Memo.
Episodes
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Special effects by | Air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Destroy the Terror-Beast Missile!" | Jun Fukuda | Teruyoshi Nakano | 1973/04/02 | |
| 2 | "Attack! Destro-King" | 1973/04/09 | |||
| 3 | "Strike! The Garogas' Underground Base" | Ishiro Honda | Masaru Takesue | Koichi Kawakita | 1973/04/16 |
| 4 | "Invasion! The Grand Garoga Army: Godzilla Appears" | Shozo Uehara | 1973/04/23 | ||
| 5 | "Attack King Ghidorah!" | Jun Fukuda | Juro Shimamoto Akira Ishikari |
Teruyoshi Nakano | 1973/04/30 |
| 6 | "King Ghidorah's Counterattack!" | 1973/05/07 | |||
| 7 | "The Zone Family's Critical Moment!" | Kengo Furusawa | Satoshi Kurumi | 1973/05/14 | |
| 8 | "Defeat the Invader of Fear!" | Akiyasu Kikuchi | Koichi Kawakita | 1973/05/21 | |
| 9 | "Find the Secret of the Red Spider!" | Kengo Furusawa | Juro Shimamoto | Teruyoshi Nakano | 1973/05/28 |
| 10 | "Zone Fighter, Destroyed!" | Akiyasu Kikuchi | Motoo Nagai | Koichi Kawakita | 1973/06/04 |
| 11 | "In a Hair's Breadth: The Roar of Godzilla!" | Jun Fukuda | Kazuhisa Hattori | Teruyoshi Nakano | 1973/06/11 |
| 12 | "The Terror-Beast Base: Invade the Earth!" | Ishiro Honda | Norio Komata | Yoshio Tabuchi | 1973/06/18 |
| 13 | "Hair-Raising! The Birthday of Terror" | Jun Fukuda | 1973/06/25 | ||
| 14 | "Rampage! The Garoga Boys Attack Force" | Akiyasu Kikuchi | Masaru Takesue | Koichi Kawakita | 1973/07/02 |
| 15 | "It's Sinking! Godzilla, Save Tokyo" | Kengo Furusawa | Kohei Oguri Norio Komata |
1973/07/09 | |
| 16 | "Terrifying Attack! The Garoga Robot" | Akiyasu Kikuchi | Susumu Takeuchi | 1973/07/16 | |
| 17 | "Go! Fighter, Scramble" | Jun Fukuda | Satoshi Kurumi | Teruyoshi Nakano | 1973/07/23 |
| 18 | "Command: "Destroy the Japanese Islands"" | Ishiro Honda | Yuji Amamiya | Yoshio Tabuchi | 1973/07/30 |
| 19 | "Order: "Destroy the Earth with Comet K"" | 1973/08/06 | |||
| 20 | "Fierce Fight! Can You Hear Fighter's Song?" | Masao Minowa | Shiro Ishimori | Teruyoshi Nakano | 1973/08/13 |
| 21 | "Invincible! Godzilla Rages" | Kohei Oguri | Shinichi Kamisawa | 1973/08/20 | |
| 22 | "Counterattack! Defeat Super Jikiro" | Masao Minowa | Masaru Takesue | Shinichi Kamisawa | 1973/08/27 |
| 23 | "Secret of the Great Terror-Beast Bakugon" | Ishiro Honda | Yoshio Tabuchi | 1973/09/03 | |
| 24 | "Defeat the Needle Shooting Terror-Beast Needlar" | Yuji Amamiya | 1973/09/10 | ||
| 25 | "Carnage! Zone & Godzilla vs. the Allied Terror-Beast Forces" | Kengo Furusawa | Yoshihisa Araki | Koichi Kawakita | 1973/09/17 |
| 26 | "Pulverize! The Garoga Gamma-X Strategy" | Kohei Oguri | Satoshi Kurumi | Shinichi Kamisawa | 1973/09/24 |
Staff
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Supervised by Tomoyuki Tanaka
- Planned by Kunmei Takahashi, Hiroshi Domon
- Directed by Jun Fukuda, Ishiro Honda, Kengo Furusawa, Akiyasu Kikuchi, Masao Minowa, Kohei Oguri
- Written by Jun Fukuda, Masaru Takesue, Shozo Uehara, Juro Shimamoto, Akira Ishikari, Satoshi Kurumi, Motoo Nagai, Kazuhisa Hattori, Norio Komata, Kohei Oguri, Susumu Takeuchi, Yuji Amamiya, Shiro Ishimori, Shinichi Kamisawa, Yoshihisa Araki
- Produced by Kimihiko Eto, Shunji Takahashi, Yoshio Nishikawa
- Music by Go Misawa
- Theme song "Zone Fighter" and insert song "Meteor Victory"
- Performed by Masato Shimon
- Lyrics by Akira Ishikari
- Composed and arranged by Go Misawa
- Cinematography by Yoshio Nakao, Masaru Kakinuma, Kiyoshi Hasegawa, Motoyoshi Tomioka, Takeshi Yamamoto, Takao Tsurumi
- Edited by Hisashi Kondo, Yoshio Tamura, Isao Takeda
- Production design by Kazuo Takigasaki, Kinya Uchida, Hiroshi Komura
- First assistant directors Masao Minowa, Kohei Oguri, Masahiko Yamamoto
- Directors of special effects Teruyoshi Nakano, Koichi Kawakita, Yoshio Tabuchi, Shinichi Kamisawa
- First assistant directors of special effects Kiyotaka Matsumoto, Shinichi Kamisawa
Cast
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Kazuya Aoyama as Hikaru Sakimori
- 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 Jo
- Munemaru Kōda as Gold Garoga (voice)
- Kinichi Kusumi as Zone Fighter (giant)
- Tatsumi Nikamoto as Garogas / Zone Fighter (human size and voice)
- Isao Zushi as Terror-Beasts / Godzilla
- Toru Kawai as Godzilla
- Kiyoshi Kobayashi as narrator (voice)
Appearances
Heroes and monsters
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Weapons, vehicles, and races
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Gallery
Concept art
Production
Screenshots
The first shot of Zone Fighter's opening sequence
Video releases
Zone Fighter 2001 DVD volume 6
Zone Fighter 2001 DVD box set
Zone Fighter 2016 DVD volume 1
Zone Fighter 2016 DVD volume 1
Zone Fighter 2016 DVD volume 2
Zone Fighter 2016 DVD volume 2
Zone Fighter 2016 DVD volume 3
Zone Fighter 2016 DVD volume 3
Zone Fighter 2016 DVD volume 4
Zone Fighter 2016 DVD volume 4
Zone Fighter 2016 DVD volume 5
Zone Fighter 2016 DVD volume 5
Magazines
Trivia
- The series has two opening sequences, one for its first 13 episodes and one for the remaining 13, which differ in the footage that plays beneath them.
- 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 TV 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 it is included in the Showa era continuity, taking place between Godzilla vs. Megalon and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.[2]
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]
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