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| Mighty Jack | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Tsuburaya Productions |
| Directed by | Kazuho Mitsuta[1] Samaji Nonagase[1] Tsuneo Kobayashi[1] |
| Starring | Hideaki Nitani Hiroshi Minami Eijirō Yanagi |
| Narrated by | Shinji Nakae |
| Composers | Isao Tomita Kunio Miyauchi |
| Country of origin | Japan |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Yasuyoshi Itō[1] |
| Running time | 45 minutes (per episode) |
| Original release | |
| Network | Fuji Television |
| Release | April 6 (1968-04-06)[1] – June 29, 1968 (1968-06-29)[1] |
Mighty Jack (マイティジャック,Maiti Jakku) is atokusatsuscience fiction/espionage/action TV series. Created by Japanese effects directorEiji Tsuburaya, the show was produced byTsuburaya Productions and was broadcast onFuji TV from April 6, 1968 to June 29, 1968, with a total of 13 one-hour episodes. The music for the episodes was done byIsao Tomita and Kunio Miyauchi.
Reportedly, Eiji Tsuburaya considered this series his masterwork because the focus was on the people, rather than on the vehicles and special effects (the show never had any monsters or aliens, as his more famous showsUltra Q,Ultraman andUltra Seven did). This focus on the people was similar to the works ofGerry Anderson, of which Tsuburaya was a big fan. The Mighty Jack mecha/HQ featured in this series also has some similarities to Tsuburaya's previous TV masterpiece,Ultra Seven.[citation needed]
Even for the original series of 13 one hour-long episodes, the ratings were low. The follow-up series,Fight! Mighty Jack, fared better in the ratings, perhaps because of its inclusion of monsters and aliens, rather than purely human evildoers like Q.[citation needed]
The insignia of the titular heroic spy team has also become the current logo for Tsuburaya Productions.
"Mighty Jack" is the name of both a top-secret international peacekeeping organization's 11 agents, and the technologically advanced flyingsubmarine "Mighty-Gō" they use to fight the plots of theterrorist organization "Q".
| Episode | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | THE MAN WHO HAD DISAPPEARED IN PARIS |
| 2 | RECAPTURE: K52 |
| 3 | THE ROSE IS BURNING |
| 4 | O, MOTHERLAND BE FOREVER!! |
| 5 | SCALPEL AND LIPSTICK |
| 6 | STEAMED ICEBERGS |
| 7 | DONT SEE THE MOON!! |
| 8 | AWESOME AURORA |
| 9 | GUIDE TO HELL |
| 10 | BOMBING ORDERS |
| 11 | BURNING GOLD |
| 12 | TERROR OF THE BIG CITY |
| 13 | OPERATION: STRANGE AIRSHIP |
After the decline in ratings from the first season, Fuji Television believed the relatively dark tone was far removed from Tsuburaya Production's usual work, and ordered a revamp of the show to make it more child-friendly, such as the removal of espionage elements and addition of giant monsters.[2] The more comical sequel series,Fight! Mighty Jack (戦え！マイティジャック,Tatakae! Maiti Jakku), aired on the same network from July 6 to December 28, 1968, with a total of 26 half-hour episodes, equaling the original in length.
This series has several humorous references to the earlyUltra Series.
In 1986, American producerSandy Frank took the first and sixth episodes ofMighty Jack (without any of the episodes that were released in between or afterward) and combined them into adubbed feature-length film of the same name. The movie gained its widest exposure in the United States when it was shown as aMystery Science Theater 3000 episode onComedy Central (originally shown on the UHF station KTMA TV 23 during the show's KTMA season).