Ambassador Magma

Osamu Tezuka created the manga and tokusatsu TV series *Ambassador Magma*, which also names its main character. The show, produced by P Productions, ran for 52 episodes on Fuji TV from July 4, 1966, to June 26, 1967. It holds the distinction of being Japan’s first color tokusatsu TV series, premiering six days before Tsuburaya Productions’ *Ultraman*. An English-dubbed version, produced by Krantz Films, later aired in the United States under the title *The Space Giants*.

The story begins when the alien Goa announces his plan to conquer Earth to the Murakami family—father Atsushi, mother Tomoko, and son Mamoru. To demonstrate his power, Goa transports them to a prehistoric jungle and destroys a Giant Dinosaur (actually Agon, the monster from a Godzilla-like series). When the family refuses to surrender, the golden, armored giant Magma arrives to defend Earth. He and his human-sized wife Mol were created by the wizard who lives deep beneath the Earth. Magma and Mol befriend Atsushi and Mamoru, and because Magma wishes for a child, Earth creates a duplicate of Mamoru named Gam, who wears a white helmet with built-in antennae. Mamoru receives a whistle: one blow summons Gam, two blows summon Mol, and three blows summon Magma. Whenever Goa unleashes his daikaiju, the trio flies to the rescue.

Despite his robot-like appearance, Ambassador Magma is a living giant forged from gold, not a true robot. In the pilot episode, actor Tetsuya Uozumi wore gold makeup on his face, matching the manga design. However, his face turned beet-red, hiding the makeup, so in later episodes he wore a golden human-like mask. Magma, Mol, and Gam can each transform into a giant rocket ship, making Magma one of the earliest transforming mecha—predating the anime super robot *Brave Raideen*. Magma also fires rockets from a panel in his chest, and all three can shoot electrical bolts from their antennae.

In the English localization *The Space Giants*, the humanoid robot heroes transform into rockets to fight dinosaur-like space monsters and faceless, ninja-like villains called Lugo men (from the Japanese *ningen-modoki*, meaning “mock-human”), whose corpses melt into oozing slime when killed. The main villain, Rodak, repeatedly tries to conquer Earth by sending new dinosaur-like monsters from deep space to attack Japan. Stories typically span two to four episodes, similar to *Doctor Who*.