In 1994,
Ministry of International Trade and Industry established March 21 as the , and a TV special program was held by both the Japan Solar System Development Association (JSSDA) and Yomiko Advertising to spread the awareness. The project was originally planned to be an animation work, but then-producer of Yomiko Advertising, Toshihiko Fujinami decided to do a different approach. Ultraseven was decided as the icon (due to the hero using solar energy to empower himself), hence the first
Heisei Ultraseven,
Operation: Solar Energy was broadcast on March 21, 1994 on
Nippon TV, exactly on Japan's
Vernal Equinox Day. The aforementioned special itself inherited a majority of the filming crew behind
Gridman the Hyper Agent, and the same team would eventually work in the production of
Ultraman Tiga. The use of Alien Pitt and Eleking, as well as Sandayu Dokumamushi and Yuriko Hishimi's return to their roles as Furuhashi and Anne were due to long time fan's familiarity with
Ultraseven. As a result of the special's nature, Kohji Moritsugu could only provide narrative role for the story instead of reprising his role as Dan Moroboshi. Due to
Operation: Solar Energy's popularity, another TV special was conceived to coincide with Japan's
Health and Sports Day on October 10, 1994. The second special,
Planet of the Earthlings, ended with Seven's apparent death. Director Shinichi Kamisawa hoped for a continuation where the Ultra survived, and he got his wish in the following home video series. From here onwards, the collaboration with VAP for original video contents was due to their past association with Tsuburaya Productions during the making of
Moon Spiral miniseries. With the exception of Kōji Nanjo, actors for the new members of Ultra Guard were carefully selected through an audition of 2,000 candidates. Shigeki Kagemaru was not able to reprise his role as Kaji due to the filming of
Ultraman Tiga had already wrapped up by the time the trilogy's filming took place. The
Final Chapters Hexalogy was initially advertised as the supposedly definitive end to the
Heisei Ultraseven as a whole, with the tagline of was even advertised in the June 5, 1999 press conference. Several of the Ultra Guard actors get to be the main focus of certain episodes. The central theme of the hexalogy was "there are enemies within the existence of human beings themselves". Shoji Nakayama, the actor of Kaoru Kiriyama in
Ultraseven, was meant to reprise his role in the final instalment of the hexalogy, but the actor died at the same month of the filming (December 1998). ==Cast==