A Thai production company licensed Ultraman for one movie, but they'd try and illegally build a bootleg empire with it. In the 1970s, a production company in Thailand was given permission to produce a single film utilizing characters from the popular Japanese series, Ultraman. However, instead of just doing the one movie, the company decided to just act as if they'd been given partial ownership of the franchise. They started producing their own original movies and tv shows using Ultraman characters. When the owners of Ultraman tried to put a stop to it by taking it to court, the Japanese court bafflingly upheld the Thai company's claim that they had the rights to the character. What would ensue became decades of building a crazy bootleg empire that would ultimately culminate in a bootleg Thai Ultraman theme park. On this episode of Deep Cuts, we delve into the crazy story of Ultraman in Thailand! -- NEW! Pick up some Deep Cuts T-Shirts and other merch! https://bit.ly/deepcutsmerch -- Get the official Deep Cuts shoulder patch! http://bit.ly/deepcuts_patch -- Listen to our new album, a 9 song rock opera about the rise and fall of Napster! https://open.spotify.com/album/63C5uu1tkzZ2FhfsrSSf5s?si=q4WItoNmRUeM159TxKLWew -- Additional incidental music credits: The Deadboy Detectives Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices