Ambassador Magma



The first color Toku broadcast two months before Ultraman, Ambassador Magma was based on the manga by Osamu Tezuka. It was later turned into an anime.

The series revolves around a family of robot-like beings who are called upon by an Earth boy whenever a giant monster appears initiated by Goa, a space alien. The one summoned by three whistles is the titular Magma, who fought the monsters.

The dub of this series was known as The Space Giants. It cut minimal scenes but still changed names. For example, Magma became Goldar, while Earth became Methusa (after the 900-year old man in The Bible, after all, he did look it!) The opening was not kept, but the music within the show, including uses of the famous theme tune, was.

An animated OAV was produced in 1993 which retold the story. It was pretty much universally panned.

This series provides examples of:

 * Alien Invasion
 * Big Bad -- Goa.
 * Friend to All Children- Goa, according to him.
 * The Kid With the Remote Control -- Mamoru with his whistle.
 * Monster of the Week -- Subverted somewhat in that the monsters are used multiple episodes, like a serial.
 * Mooks -- Goa's Near-Humans.
 * Names to Know In Anime -- Osamu Tezuka, obviously and Toru Ohira, voice of Goa.
 * Television Serial
 * There Are No Adults -- Goa's apparent motivation for his invasion of Earth(or so he says) is to make a literal world where this is in effect and children can be happy. But... what happens when the kids grow up?