Tsuburaya Productions' next series would be a significant departure from the Ultraman format. Eschewing the giant monster format, Mighty Jack would be about an elite team of superspies called Mighty Jack and their giant flying battleship/submarine Mighty/Mighty-Gō and assorted smaller specialist ships. Mighty Jack does battle with the evil secret organization Q, which is bent on world domination. Eiji Tsuburaya himself was apparently quite proud of the show because it focused on the human characters instead of weekly giant monsters. Aimed at an older audience than the Ultraman series and drawing heavy inspiration from Thunderbirds, Mighty Jack began airing in April of 1968.
The Mighty itself is a 235 meter (771 ft) long and 41 meter (135 ft) tall behemoth that can fly at Mach 2.8, powered by a mix of nuclear and solar plasma engines and a bunch of conventional and super science weapons. It does not, however, transform into a giant robot.
Originally planned as a 26 episode series, poor ratings led to its cancellation after 13 of the 45 minute long episodes aired.
That wasn't the end of the show, though. Staff and cast were changed, and the show's format was radically changed. Mighty Jack was still an organization that fought against Q, but the target audience was now younger kids, and this time, there would be giant monsters and a generally lighter tone. The show would be reborn as Fight! Mighty Jack and picked up immediately after Mighty Jack ended. Episodes were shortened to 24 minutes, but this revamped version of the show successfully ran for 26 episodes, wrapping up in December of 1968.
What makes this entire show relevant to this project is one of the monsters from Fight! Mighty Jack was the Big Q (or Big Queen) from episode 22. A 55 meter (180 ft) tall silver robot with super strength and a big pair of floodlights on its head. Built by the widows of Q agents who were killed by Mighty Jack (I'm working from a translation of the Japanese Wiki page, so some of the details might be off), the plan was to stomp around the city and plant a white flag on the top of Tokyo Tower to signal Mighty Jack to surrender. It was eventually blown up in battle.
American audiences will be more familiar with the 1986 adaptation by Sandy Frank Productions. Frank, a veteran sales executive who had worked for Paramount and NBC, was also responsible for bringing Science Ninja Team Gatchaman to the US as Battle of the Planets in 1977. His company has multiple licensing deals for localizing Japanese movies in the United States, most notably the Gamera series.
The Mighty Jack “movie” was one of the company's lesser efforts. It took the first and sixth episodes and slapped them together with little context, poor pacing, and bad dubbing. This would be prime fodder for Mystery Science Theater 3000, and the show was riffed twice, first in 1989 on KTMA (during “Season 0” and next in 1991 during Season Three of the show proper.
Mighty Jack would be one of studio founder Eiji Tsuburaya's final projects, and the last one covered by the scope of this project. He would pass away in 1970 at the age of 68.
Mighty Jack would be one of studio founder Eiji Tsuburaya's final projects, and the last one covered by the scope of this project. He would pass away in 1970 at the age of 68.
Next time on Shin Super Robot Sunday: A Flying Dutchman and her ghost captain.
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