New Century Ultraman Legend is a 2002 music video and a Clip Show montage produced by Tsuburaya, made for the Ultra Series that was available as a special edition on DVDs for Ultraman Cosmos 2: The Blue Planet. The music video features basically every single Ultramen that existed in the franchise's then 35-year-old run (1966 -2001).
In a seemingly normal suburban household, a young boy named Kanchi is watching Ultraman Cosmos: The First Contact and pretending to be Ultraman Cosmos, with his father playing Dark Baltan. After the movie, Kanchi and his father bonds by folding paper airplanes while the mother makes dinner, but halfway through an electrical storm interrupts their fun.
Somehow, Kanchi - then holding a paper plane - and his father ends up getting sucked into the television, which is playing reruns of older Ultramen shows, and both father and son then gets to partake in various Ultramen-related action. Notably giving Ultraman a hand against Zarangas, releasing Ultraseven from being crucified, and helping Ultraman Jack who is struggling against Twin Tail and Gudon by defeating the former, allowing Jack to take down Gudon afterwards.
What follows is clip montage of various Ultra shows in chronological order, intersect with clips of Ultramen performing an impromptu aerobic dance and tap dance for the audience (with increasing numbers of Ultra dancers in participation!), before Kanchi and his father made their way back to the real world. Kanchi and the father excitedly narrates their adventures in the Land of Ultramen to the mother, but halfway through the family is assaulted by an unknown entity called the "Sky Demon", who had escaped from the world of television by tailing Kanchi; luckily, the boy had collected the light energies from the Ultras, and immediately summons every existing Ultra at that point of the franchise against the Sky Demon. After a short battle, the Demon explodes into a shower of monster toys, as Kanchi and his family bid the Ultras farewell.
The series is available online
and is in equal parts silly, charming, and hilarious.
But what's even better is that Tsuburaya made a follow-up, titled New Century 2003 Ultraman Legend: THE KING'S JUBILEE which is shown alongside Ultraman Cosmos vs. Ultraman Justice: The Final Battle in theaters and available on DVDs as a Special Edition.
Like the title states, the follow-up depicts various Ultras attending the Jubilee for Ultraman King's 300,000th birthday. Ultras, kaijus and aliens alike (apparently after a Face–Heel Turn) are invited, with a musical number, a romantic dance montage, and a massive dance party with various Ultramen forming the Ultra Funk Jam, members consisting of Eighty Super Cool, Ace Galaxy Step, Agul Boogie Down, Zearth Funky Groove, B-Boy Zearth Jr, Cosmos Air, Dyna Rocksteady, Gaia Electric, Justice Pointer, Seven Shuffle and Tiga Spinning.
Here's the 2003 follow-up for those interested.
New Century Ultraman Legend Contains examples of:
- All Your Powers Combined: At the end of the show, in order to destroy the Sky Demon, nearly 30 Ultramen - all of them who existed between 1966 to 2001, or from Ultraman to Ultraman Cosmos - collectively fired their beams into the Demons' face, finally destroying it for good.
- Been There, Shaped History: Yeah, Kanchi and his father's trip into the Land of Ultras? They helped a blinded Ultraman distract Zarangas allowing Ultraman to defeat the monster, released a crucified Ultraseven for Ultraseven to destroy the invading Guts Aliens, and took down Twin Tail giving Ultraman Jack a much-needed assistance in battling Gudon.
- Big Bad: Well, the closest this music video has to an actual "Big Bad" is the unnamed Sky Demon, since it gets to battle an entire army or Ultra warriors.
- Clip Show: Most of the video, which consists of clips from... (Takes A Deep Breath) Ultraman, Ultraseven, Return of Ultraman, Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Taro, Ultraman Leo, The☆Ultraman, Ultraman 80, Ultraman: The Adventure Begins, Ultraman: Towards the Future, Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero, Ultraman Zearth, Ultraman Tiga and Ultraman Dyna: Warriors of the Star of Light, Ultraman Gaia: The Battle In Hyperspace, Ultraman Neos, AND Ultraman Cosmos: The First Contact (WHEW!)
- Dancing Theme: In between the various clip shows and bonding scenes between Kanchi and his dad, are clips of various Ultramen performing an improvised aerobics dance for the audience. Yes, even Ultraman King and the Father of Ultra gets in on the action, and it's as hilarious / charming as it sounds. After the final scene with Kanchi and his family waving goodbye to the Ultras, the show then cuts to a Dance Party Ending featuring Kanchi and his family and schoolmates over the credits.
- Death from Above: The Sky Demon attempts to take down the Ultramen army by launching meteor-sized fireballs from above. It only succeeds in injuring Ultraman Zearth and Ultraman Nice, both whom then gets healed immediately by the Mother of Ultra, before the Ultras retaliate by firing their beams TOGETHER.
- Godzilla Threshold: When the Sky Demon begins threatening Kanchi and his family, the boy then summons 29 Ultra-warriors to battle the demon.
- Kaiju: The clip show segments, which predictably shows the Ultramen battling various monsters. And then there's the Sky Demon, who takes on 29 Ultra-heroes.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover
- No Name Given: The "Sky Demon" is never named onscreen. In fact, "Sky Demon" is merely a placeholder that kinda stuck since Tsuburaya never tried to give the demon an actual name.
- Sky Face: How the Sky Demon reveals itself to battle the Ultras at the end of the show.
- Stock Footage: Whoo boy... basically the whole thing. Consisting of clips (roughly 60% of it) recycled from various shows, movies and cartoons recycled from the first 35 years of the Ultra Series' existance.
- Trapped in TV Land: Kanchi and his father gets transported into the world of Ultramen after a paper airplane they made transports them into the television. (It Makes As Much Sense In Context, to be honest...)
New Century 2003 Ultraman Legend: THE KING'S JUBILEE Contains examples of:
- Birthday Episode: For Ultraman King's 300,000 B-day.
- The Cameo: If the previous music video missed an appearance from any alien or kaiju, chances are they will pop up in this follow-up.
- All incarnations of Alien Baltan at the point of the franchise does show up, including Shirubyi and Basical from Ultraman Cosmos: The First Contact.
- Chariot Pulled by Cats: Miclas, Yamawara and Gubila are shown pulling chariots for escorting various Ultras to the Jubilee.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: It's a dance party celebrating Ultraman King's birthday and that's what happens here, no fights, no explosions just dancing and singing.
- Mythology Gag: Ultraman Tiga getting into a romantic dance with Camearra, never mind the events of Ultraman Tiga: The Final Odyssey establishing them as enemies, clearly they reconciled their love offscreen.
- New Baby Episode: The musical contains the debut (and to date, sole appearance) of Zearth's son, Zearth Junior, who partakes with his dad in the stage dance. More often than not, Zearth had to be pulled down by his fellow dance mates while he goes "So Proud of You" over his boy.
