Shout Factory TV Is Showing A 50th Anniversary ‘Ultraman’ Marathon This Sunday

The official position of ComicsAlliance --- or at least of our senior writer --- is that no matter how much tokusatsu you have in your life, you could always use a little more. I mean, think about it. Have you ever been in a situation that couldn't have been improved if a giant hero showed up and started shooting laser beams at a monster?

Fortunately, we're all getting the chance to put a little bit more of the Specium Beam in our lives. This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Japanese debut of Ultraman, and to mark the occasion, Shout Factory TV is doing a marathon of episodes, streaming for free at ShoutFactoryTV.com.

The marathon will be hosted by August Ragone, author of Eiji Tsubaraya: Master of Monsters, who selected his favorite episodes of the series. Ragone has previously hosted other tokusatsu marathons for Shout Factory, including a marathon of our beloved Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger back in January. If that pattern holds up, I think we can probably expect about three hours of Ultraman blowing up suspiciously rubber monsters to while away your Sunday afternoon.

If you're not familiar with the series, it's set in the far-off future of 1993, when the Earth is constantly under attack from aliens and monsters. The only thing that stands between them and stomping on our somewhat cardboardy cities is the Science Patrol, a group of daring action scientists who use superior technology to fight monsters. When one of the Science Patrollers gets caught in a battle between an alien named Bemlar and an interstellar warrior named Ultraman, however, he becomes Ultraman's host on Earth, battling monsters and struggling to keep his secret identity.

The marathon starts at 12:00 noon Eastern time on ShoutFactoryTV.com.

[The original version of this post indicated the event would be on Saturday instead of Sunday. It has been updated to reflect the correct day. - Ed.]