My Favorite Martian

So, the cool cats over at "The Geek Twins" blog (as well as a few others) are hosting this "My Favorite Martian" bloghop and  they're asking the timeless question....

...just who (or what) is your favorite alien? I didn't want to ask if they meant 'real' or 'imagined', so I just went with 'imagined' ;)

At first, I thought it was going to be a no-brainer. Of course I'd choose my favorite Kryptonian....Kal El.

Perhaps you know him better by his nom de voyage, or the name he travels under; Superman.--Lex Luthor, Superman:II

 Anyway, I got to thinking and figured that Ma Kent's favorite son would be too easy. So, the more I thought on it, the more it became clear that I should really honor one of the very first aliens I remember being interested in....an old friend from one of the first t.v. shows I remember watching when I was young, and I realize I'm dating myself here, but I don't care.

My pick is Ultraman!!

Originally airing in Japan in 1966, I don't think it hit American until around 1972. I remember watching this when I was about four or five years old and it really jump started my imagination. I used to lay in bed, imagining I was Ultraman and fighting giant monsters in northern Kentucky.

For the uninitiated, Ultraman was a live action, children's (I guess it was for kids...) series about an alien from Nebula M78 who, accidentally, crashed into a vehicle piloted by Science Patrol agent Shin Hayata. To save Hayata's life, Ultraman merges his life force with Hayata and they become one being. Due to Ultraman's vulnerability to Earth's atmosphere, most of their time is spent in human form. When there's trouble, though, Hayata rushes to a clear spot, presses a button on the Beta Capsule, and grows into the giant alien.

Now, where did I leave that Beta Capsule?

Ultraman had a wide variety of powers at his disposal to combat the giant monster threat that the future, which was the 1990s (remember this was back in the 1960s) held.

If I had a dime for every time I struck this pose as a kid..

His main weapon was his Spacium Ray. A beam of intense light particles that did in most, run of the mill, giant monsters. It made 'em blow up...real good!

Ultraman could also fly (always taking off with a "Shaaaaaa!") and was a solid hand to hand combatant. I can honestly say that Ultraman probably had just a big an impact on me becoming a pro wrestling fan as Vince McMahon Jr. did in driving me away from it years later. I mean when you think about it...two guys in funny suits, pretending to duke it out....yeah, not too much of a stretch.

A full list of Ultraman's amazing powers can be found over at Wikipedia, so I won't bore you with each and every one. Suffice it to say...he had a ton of them.

If he had so many cool powers, why did he fight hand to hand? One might ask.

Well, the answer is simple <he says, putting on his Geeky Professor of pseudo-science hat>. Using his powers used his energy and, since the Earth's atmosphere drained him of that energy, he probably had to use it sparingly. Either that or the studio had a limited special effects budget....you choose :)

Besides sparking an interest in pro wrestling, I think Ultraman also helped develop my interest in comic books. Again, it would stand to reason. Good versus bad, hero versus villain, etc.

So, thank you Ultraman....for helping to ignite a young man's imagination, even after all these years.

A tip of the Space Patrol helmet to you, my favorite Martian (alien)!

Now...back to the blogosphere!

Shaaaaaa!