is the protagonist of the 1971–1972 tokusatsu Ultra Series, Return of Ultraman. Sometime after Ultraseven's departure, Earth had entered a period of peace until a string of incidents wherein monsters awakened from slumber, appearing one after another. Jack bonded with the race car driver Hideki Go to save his life and as the former's means to operate on Earth while they joined MAT to fight against monster attacks and alien invasions.
Return of Ultraman marks the connection of Ultraman and Ultraseven as Ultra Series installments, which eventually lead to multiple sequels and spin-offs for Tsuburaya Productions with various heroes named after it. Additionally, Return of Ultraman also served as a milestone celebration for the fifth anniversary of Ultraman and the newly established Ultra Series. Following Jack's departure in the final episode, the series would be succeeded by Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Taro and Ultraman Leo before entering a hiatus, a trend which can still be seen to this day. Even with his series ended, Jack would make returning appearances in recent media of the Ultra Series.
In Return of Ultraman, Ultraman Jack's lines were provided by and , both of whom even voiced several of the aliens that appeared, including the original Ultraman and Ultraseven's returning appearances. His grunts, however, were recycled from those of the original Ultraman, provided by . Meanwhile, his suit actor was , who previously portrayed Ultraseven in episodes 14 and 15 of his series, including the monster Zazarn in episode 1 of Return of Ultraman. Kikuchi also made his cameo appearances as steerman Kawasaki (13) and a MAT communication officer (51).
Character conception The entire project began with a book published on April 28, 1969, starting from , featuring the return of the original Ultraman and the establishment of the attack team MAT. The book's setting was that Ultraman returned to Earth 30 years after the end of his titular series. In the planned third volume, Muramatsu and Hayata of the Science Special Search Party were meant to return, and a character named would inherit the Beta Capsule and bond with Ultraman.
In contrast to Shin Hayata and Dan Moroboshi, Jack's host, Hideki Go, is portrayed as a man who has a private life outside of his duty as a MAT officer, including his aspiration as a race car driver, living with the Sakata siblings and having a neighbor named Rumiko Murano. In addition, the protagonist is a person who had the abilities of Ultraman, thus outclassing fellow MAT members in terms of skills, and emphasized the efforts shown to overcome daily difficulties. The injuries and struggles from fighting monsters were also passed onto the human identity. This kind of setting would be known as .
Design The designer of Ultraman Jack was ambiguous as, according to the art staff, was said to be in charge of the main design, but said artist denied his participation as he believed that the design's brush style was "akin to that of ", with the latter likewise choosing not to acknowledge it as his own work. The initial design was made by then-manager of Tsuburaya Production's sales management by adding lines on it under the impression that he was the original Ultraman. The first suit was based on this design and filming started at that moment. However, under the request of the toy company Bullmark, who acquired the commercialization rights for this series, the design had to be changed, as the character needed to be clearly differentiated from the original Ultraman, and thus his scenes needed to be re-shot with a new suit.
His mask was molded on the original Ultraman's Type C mask by both Kaigome Production and Hiruma Model Craft. At the time for the photo session for the first suit, the eye positions have changed, as they were slightly dragged upwards from the original and the back of the eyes were molded through transparent epoxy resin.
At the beginning of the season, viewer ratings gradually decreased and various empowerment techniques were devised. The Ultra Bracelet, Jack's main weapon, was one of them. Producer Yōji Hashimoto was initially outraged because it deviated from the original theme of "overwhelming the monster in the end with hardship," but decided to adopt it from the opinion that "the Ultraman was too weak".
Naming The show's title, Return of Ultraman, was meant to emphasize the return of the original Ultraman but, due to the sponsor's wishes that it should be a different being as a result of commercialization development, this character in the end became a different being.
The show's title was conceived by the late Eiji Tsuburaya.
In the series proper, he was only called , due to being a remnant from the idea that Jack and the original one were the same being. To distinguish the two, the 1966 hero was called . Also, due to succeeding Ultra Brothers members had names of their own, "Jack" at that moment was only known by older fans as "the nameless hero".
The 1971–1972 Ultraman would later be called by three different names in succeeding media up to Leo:
From episode 14 of Ultraman Ace, Seiji Hokuto and Yapool called him . In the narration of Taro and Leo, he was called . Shortened as . The opening credits of Taro episode 52 and Leo episode 34 credited his name as , based on the name of his show. Shortened as . This was even cited in the 1982 magazine Ultraman White Paper. This name is even acknowledged in episode 45 of Ultraman Mebius by the civilians upon his reappearance.
Starting from before the release of Ultraman Zoffy: Ultra Warriors vs. the Giant Monster Army, he received the name "Ultraman Jack" by then-president of Tsuburaya Productions Noboru Tsuburaya. As a result of this, later materials would continue to stick to this name, with "New Ultraman", "Ultraman II" and "Returned Ultraman" treated as aliases. As the humans in the Showa universe (including Mebius) had no awareness of his true name, they usually stick to the name "Ultraman" or "Returned Ultraman".
The 2008 movie Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers referenced this as an in-joke by a dimensional-displaced Mirai Hibino when he identified an alternate-dimension Hideki Go by the names Jack, New Man and Returned Man, all of which the latter reacted to in confusion.
Ultraman Jack was also the working title for Ultraman Taro and the eponymous character, until this was scrapped due to aircraft hijacking incidents at that time.
History Ultraman Jack is a member of the , whose arrival to Earth was made at the behest of Zoffy.
When aspiring race car driver Hideki Go was mortally wounded from saving a little boy and his dog, Jack was touched by his heroic deed and merged with the man to save his life, at the same time operating on Earth to face against recurring cases of monsters awakening from their slumber, as well as alien invaders. Despite suffering multiple defeats in the series, his connection to the human host Go would often resulting in the two training to improvise their fighting skills. After being defeated by a space monster named Bemstar, Jack was given the Ultra Bracelet by Ultraseven to further aid him in his battle. However, in several occasions, the alien invaders came to know the connection between Jack and his host and occasionally resulting in a physical attack on their loved ones. This includes the death of Aki and Ken Sakata by Alien Nackle, who would defeat the Ultra through the help of his monster, Black King. As Jack was brought to Planet Nackle, the original Ultraman and Seven rescued him as the former destroyed the invading Nackle space fleet. On Earth, Go managed to escape his brainwashed teammates and fought against the very leader of Alien Nackle and Black King; this time he managed to turn the tides of the battle.
In the final episode, Alien Bat, an originally benevolent race who betrayed the people of Land of Light, sent down a revived Zetton II on Earth, while his brethren tried to invade Jack's home world and held Jiro and Rumiko hostage. The original Ultraman tried to warn Jack not to transform, due to the former having been defeated by the same monster, with this one being an enhanced version of it. However, Go transformed anyway and this time the Ultra received help from his fellow MAT members, despite their means of fighting being reduced to handheld weapons. Jack first killed Alien Bat before using his newly created attack, the Ultra Hurricane, by throwing Zetton II up in the air and finishing it in mid-air with his Specium Ray. In the aftermath of the battle, Jack would leave Earth to join his kind in defending the Land of Light, while retaining his bond with Hideki Go.
Subsequent appearances in the Showa era Ultraman Ace (1972): Jack first appeared with the newly formed Ultra Brothers celebrating their newest member, Ace. His human host, Go, was impersonated by Alien Antira in episode 10 as a way to infiltrate TAC while unleashing the Terrible-Monster Zaigon into the city. In episodes 13 and 14, he was among those kidnapped and crucified by Yapool on Planet Golgoda and had his Ultra Bracelet stolen by Ace Killer, who made it part of his arsenal. When Ace was injured, the Brothers donated their energy to him, allowing Ace to defeat Ace Killer and free them. In episodes 26 and 27, Jack and the Ultra Brothers were among those turned into statues by Alien Hipporit before they were freed by Father of Ultra, who sacrificed his Color Timer to Ace in order to defeat the alien. Ironically, in this series the original Ultraman's suit was modified from Jack's suit during his title series. Ultraman Taro (1973): Jack appeared in episodes 1, 25, 33, 34, 40 and 52. In episode 1, he was among the Ultra Brothers that witnessed the fusion of Ultraman Taro and Kotaro and later help deliver the Ultra Bell to the Ultra Tower in episode 25. In 33 and 34, he and the rest of the Ultra Brothers joined Taro on Earth while fighting against Alien Temperor. In episode 40, he fought against Tyrant on Jupiter, only to be defeated after his attempt to send a warning signal through the Ultra Sign failed. Jack's final appearance was in episode 52, as he chased the monster Dorobon to Earth and had his Color Timer stolen, causing Jack to deflate in a manner of a balloon. That final appearance itself has Jack's suit portrayed with his gloves and boots being red in color, in contrast to the original silver. Ultraman Leo (1974): He first appeared in episode 34 to transport the Monster Ball Sevengar, but his journey was interrupted by Ashuran, who defeated Ultraman Jack and went to Earth. Jack reverted into Hideki Go and was left with a muzzle that muffled his speech. Although he managed to deliver Sevengar to Dan and freed him from his restrains, Go was still too injured to fight, but used the lunar eclipse to transform himself into Ultraman Jack, assisting Leo in defeating Ashuran before returning to Planet Ultra with Dan's Ultra Eye. In episodes 38 and 39, when Babarue posed as Imit-Astra to steal the Ultra Key, the Ultra Brothers were at war with the Leo Brothers on Earth, until King appeared and exposed the evil alien's deception. With Astra's name cleared, the Leo Brothers are invited to join the team. While Jirō Dan reprised his role in episode 34, Ultraman Jack is voiced by in the two-part episode. The 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army (1974 (Thailand)/1979 (Japan)): Ultraman Zoffy: Ultra Warriors vs. the Giant Monster Army (1984): Ultraman Story (1984): In this film, Ultraman Jack is voiced by , who also voiced 80 in the film.
Heisei era