[Locke]

Locke tries to get into Ultraman again. He watches the first episode of Max. He LOVES the first episode of Max.

The giant stuff was integrated well, the special effects were top notch and the designs were great. What really helped Max's look was the limited use of miniatures and scaled sets. I hope the frequency of use of real locations and extras doesn't diminish as the series progresses, it really added to the whole experience.

Plus whenever they did have to resort to sound stages, the placement of miniatures and general detail and design was much more convincing as a real location than what you see in sentai.

The only real disappointment was seeing two kaiju fight, how'd you make two monsters battling boring? Well how about a five minute solid battle of two rubber suits bumping into one another and falling over repeatedly? That'll do it!

Max's entrance was a mixed bag, I actually like the concept of the Ultramen a lot more than the execution. Why does every Ultraman have an obvious zip down the back? Why do they build the suits out of material that creases and folds in the manner that they do? Why do they keep the bodies so simple that the heads seem huge in comparison?

Don't get me wrong Max's entrance was pretty cool, from the fact he seemed to fight the monsters so...normally for ridiculous effect, but just when you think it's gonna be ridiculously underplayed he fires some frickin' rainbow beam that causes the monsters to full on shatter into pieces. It's just gonna take me time to appreciate that suit - if I ever do.