Stuck In
Somebody's Frame
Credits
April 2, 1973 - September 24, 1973, 26 episodes
Created by Tanaka, Tomoyuki
Directed by Fukuda, Jun & Honda, Ishirô
Music by Misawa,
Go
| Character |
|
Actor/Actress |
| Sakimori, Hikaru/Zone Fighter |
|
Aoyama, Kazuya |
| Zone Fighter (giant form) |
|
Kusumi, Momoru |
| Sakimori, Hotaru/Zone Angel |
|
Kitahara, Kazumi |
| Sakimori, Akira/Zone Junior |
|
Sato, Takashii |
| Sakimori, Raita (Zone Great) |
|
Amagusa, Shiro |
| Sakimori, Yoichiro (Zone Father) |
|
Nakayama, Shoji |
| Sakimori, Tsukiko (Zone Mother) |
|
Kozuki, Sachiko |
| Jo, Takeru |
|
Ohara, Hideaki |
| Voice of Gold Garoga |
|
Kôda, Munemaru |
| Gojira (Godzilla) |
|
Kawai, Toru & Zushi, Isao |
| Narrator |
|
Kobayashi,
Kiyoshi |
![Gohrudo [Gold] Garoga](garoga1.jpg)
Six aliens, the Zone
Family, come to earth after their planet, Peaceland, is destroyed by
the Garoga Army, a race of goblin like creatures with long antennae. On
earth the Zone Family is known as the Sakimori Family. Each member of
the family takes a name that is somehow related to light. Zone Great
(the grandfather) takes the name Raita ("lighter"), Zone Father takes
the name Yoichiro (yo means "sun"), Zone Mother takes the name Tsukiko
(tsuki means "moon"), Zone Fighter becomes Hikaru ("to light" or "to
shine" "to glow"), Zone Angel becomes Hotaru ("firefly" or "lightning
bug") and Zone Junior is Akira (short for kirakira "glitter, sparkle,
glisten, twinkle").
When the Garoga Army
targets their new home, the three children, Hikaru, Hotaru and Akira,
become Zone Fighter, Zone Angel and Zone Junior, to defend it. Zone
Great (grandfather) leads the family, and with Zone Father and Zone
Mother act as advisers to their warrior children.
Zone Fighter does most
of the combat, becoming giant sized to fight the giant Terror-Beasts.
Zone
Angel and Zone Junior pilot an aircraft called Smokey, firing
the "Smokey Beam" at the monsters or they fly under their own power and
fire proton beams at the monsters.
Zone Fighter
can of course fly. He can also travel through other dimensions with his
Astral Dash. His combat techniques include Meteor Kick and Meteor Spin.
He also has several weapons, the two most often used are Meteor Proton
Beam and the Meteor Missile Might (bracelets which fire missiles). It
is usually the Meteor Missile Might that finishes off the monsters. To protect himself
from the monster's attacks he can create two shields Meteor Zone
Barrior (which simply blocks the attack) and Meteor Reflective Barrior
(which reflects the monster's attack back on it).
The proton
beam is introduced in the second episode when it is used not by Zone
Fighter but by Zone Angel and Zone Junior. Zone Fighter doesn't use his
protron beam until the third episode. Smokey's beam isn't used until
the fourth episode.
The giant
Zone Fighter's belt is an energy level monitor. It's blue when he's
fully charged, turns yellow when he's starting to run low and red when
he's dangerously low on energy. It flashes red when he is nearly out of
energy. Zone Fighter is powered by solar radiation (revealed in episode
5), however during combat he cannot absorb sunlight fast enough
(probably because of the Earth's atmosphere reducing the amount of
solar radiation which gets through) so he requires a charged energy
capsule as a back up power supply. The capsule is on his head. When his
belt is flashing red he calls upon Zone Angel or Zone Junior to
recharge him. They accomplish this by either beaming energy into the
capsule or by replacing the empty capsule with a fully charged one. If
they are unable to recharge him he will revert to human sized Zone
Fighter. In episode 10 Zone Fighter is drained completly and forced to
become Hikaru again.
Human sized
Zone Fither, Zone Angel and Zone Junior all carry miniature robots on
their belts. These robots are recording devices. Either one of the
warriors can record a message then send the robot to their secret
headquarters in a hidden rome of the Sakimori home. The robots' feet
are rockets. The three warriors also carry pistols which can fire an
armor piercing bullet or a proton beam.
The Sakimori family
car transforms into Mighty Liner (first seen in episode 2), a flying
car armed with a cannon used to blast the Garogans and their black
cars.
The
Sakimori's house is protected by an invisible Proton Barrier which the
Garoga cannot penetrate. When Zone Fighter is in jeaporady Zone Great
can activate Great Raideki a device which generates lightning like
blasts. Using the weapon is dangerous because it drains energy from
Zone Great, shortening his life. Sakimori, Hikaru makes a living as a
race car test driver. Sakimori, Yoichiro is a toymaker.
Assisting the
Sakimori family is a young private detective, Jo, Takeru, He's rather
dense. Although he hears them speak of coming from another planet he
has some how failed to realise that his friends are actually Zone
Fighter, Zone Angel and Zone Junior.
Episode
Titles/Monsters
1. 04-02-1973 "Destroy
The Terror-Beast Missile!"
Red
Spark & Jikiro
2. 04-09-1973 "Beat
Destro-King!"
Destro-King
3. 16-16-1973 "Defeat
Garoga's Subterranean Base!"
Dorola
4. 04-23-1973 "Onslaught! The Garoga Army: Enter Godzilla!"
Wargilgar
& Spyler
5. 04-30-1973 "Blast King Ghidora At Point Blank!"
King
Ghidora
6. 05-07-1973 "King Ghidora Strikes Back!"
King
Ghidora
7. 05-14-1973 "Zone
Family's Critical Moment!"
Dragon
King & Gilmoras
8. 05-21-1973 "Smash
The Terrifying Invader!"
Gellderah
9. 05-28-1973 "Search
For The Secret Of Red Spider!"
Goro-Gorilla
& Spider Uros
10. 06-04-1973 "Zone
Fighter Annihilated!"
Jipudoro
& Shadorah
11. 06-11-1973 "In The Twinkling
Of An Eye: The Roar Of Godzilla!
Gigan
12. 06-18-1973 "Terrorbeast HQ -
Invade The Earth!"
Barakidon
13. 06-25-1973 "Absolute Terror:
Birthday Of Horror!"
Garaborg
14. 07-02-1973 "Insane With
Anger! The Garoga Boy's Squad"
Deadragon
15. 07-09-1973 "Submersion!
Godzilla, Save Tokyo!"
Zandolla
16. 07-16-1973 "Counterstrike Of
Terror! Garoga-Robot!"
Moguranda
17. 07-23-1973 "Go! Fighter
Emergency Take Off!"
Barugas
18. 07-30-1973 "Directive:
Destroy The Japanese Laboratory!"
Gondargilas
19. 08-06-1973 "Order: Crush The
Earth With Comet K!"
Gondorgilas
20. 08-13-1973 "Desperate
Struggle! Can You Hear Fighter's Song?"
Goramu
21. 08-20-1973 "Invincible!
Godzilla's Violent Charge!"
Jurah
22. 08-27-1973 "Counterstrike! Strike Down Super-Jikiro!"
Super-Jikiro
23. 09-03-1973 "Secret Of Bakugon - The Giant Terror-Beast!"
Bakugon
24. 08-10-1973 "Smash The Pin-Spitting Needlar!"
Needlar
25. 08-17-1973 "Bloodbath! Zone & Godzilla V.S. The
United Terror-Beast Army!"
Monster
Army (including Uros & Garaborg)
26. 08-24-1973 "Pulverize Operation: Garoga Gamma-X!"
Grotogauros
titles and monster
names from "Zone Fighter! Episode Guide" by Damon Foster, as printed in
Ultra Fan #1
Episode 26
does not seem like a final episode to me, there is no battle between
Zone Fighter and the Garoga leader, nothing as far as I can tell
indicates that another attack couldn't be coming soon. I cannot be
certain, but it is possible Ryusei Ningen Zoon
was never finished, but canceled because of the energy crisis Japan
suffered in 1973 due to an oil shortage. There were few movies and tv
series produced at this time and some of the tv series were cut short.
Five of the twenty-six
Ryusei Ningen Zoon episodes feature Gojira (Godzilla) helping Zone
Fighter defeat the invading Terror-Beasts. Two episodes feature King
Gihdora, Gojira is not in these.
Gojira
(Godzilla) Episodes
4. Onslaught! The Garoga Army: Enter
Godzilla!
"In The Twinkling Of An Eye: The Roar Of Godzilla!"
15. Submersion! Godzilla, Save Tokyo!
21. Invincible! Godzilla's Violent Charge!
In episode twenty-one,
before the monsters attack, Zone Fighter and Gojira engage in friendly
wrestling.
25. Bloodbath! Zone & Godzilla
V.S. The United Terror-Beast Army!
King Ghidora
Episodes
5. Blast King Ghidora At Point Blank!
6. King Ghidora Strikes Back!
One of the most
interesting episodes is episode #10, in which a monster is made from
Zone Fighter's shadow. Whenever it is near him it drains his energy.
The silliest episode is probably episode #12, in which Zone Fighter
battles a giant chicken monster, which is afraid of the dark.
Ryusei Ningen Zoon
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Last modified Monday, August 4, 2008
Ryusei Ningen Zoon © 1973 Toho E-B Co., Ltd.
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