2026年5月8日 星期五

Thoughts on 1966-1967's Ultraman TV Show 2


I'll watch Ultraman, love it for a while, and then need to take breaks.  One can only endure so much silliness for so long.

My rather loose plan is to watch all of the original Ultraman TV series, splitting its 39 episodes into three entries for the sake of my own sanity.  After these three entries I might move on to Ultraseven, the show's sequel, but it's early yet and I might change my mind later.  Ultraseven has 49 episodes (not counting the banned episode), and watching all of them would take up a fair chunk of my life.

Anyway, on to this installment of Ultraman!



Another Iran connection!  The monstrous Pestar begins his rampage in the Iranian oilfields, and is only later spotted in the vicinity of Tokyo.

In this one Ide goes off the rails and blows up part of Tokyo Bay, leading to his going too far in an attempt to extinguish a fire at an oil refinery later in the same episode.  The team forgives him of course, primarily because he's the comic relief, and without him the show would be way too serious.  Can't have that now, can we?

Pestar is one of the weirder-looking Ultraman villains.  He's basically two guys in a starfish-shaped suit holding a head between them.



Akiko gets MAD after a pearl-loving monster threatens Japan's pearl crop!  The rest of the Science Patrol chides her over this, but what do men understand of a woman's love for pearls?

One of the scenes near the end of this episode resembles a paid advertisement for Japan's pearl industry.  Akiko selects a pearl necklace, pearl earrings and a pearl ring at the local jewelry store while smiling lovingly at the camera.

I'm assuming that Akiko and Ide are dating by this point in the series.  Why Ide, Akiko?  Hayata's a much better choice!



Cosmic rays make a boy's crude drawing come to life because SCIENCE.  The Science Patrol shows up to handle business as usual, but they make everything worse to the point where Ultraman has to take out the (monster) trash.

Might want to bring some good weed along for this one.  The monster in question disappears at sunset and then turns into a star.  This monster could have also, I assume, been defeated with an eraser.



They loosened things up a bit for this one, with a rocket bound for Venus meeting Alien Baltan from an earlier episode.  Baltan doesn't seem to have the same powers as he did in that earlier episode, but he's still up to no good and Ultraman still gives him a good thrashing in the end.

Ultraman has a couple new powers in this one as well.  He's able to shoot beams from his eyes, and he can throw an energy disc that cuts his opponents in half.



Things get weird again in this one, with a "fourth dimensional foe" that transports unsuspecting people into another dimension.

Four-Dimensional Monster Bullton is kinda fun.  It's able to mess with the laws of physics.



Alien Zarab turns into a fake Ultraman to make everyone think the real Ultraman is BAD!

And hey Tokyo, are we at all worried about the residual effects of that radioactive cloud that was hanging over the city?  Or how easily your governmental institutions were tricked by an alien walking around with a portable translation machine?



The Science Patrol and an archaeologist (?) discover a time capsule from the lost civilization of Mu.

Knowing what we now know about the show, what happens next?

1. They conduct a rigorous scientific examination of the time capsule and its contents, exercising strict protocols regarding the preservation of the find and possible biological contaminants, or:

2. The time capsule winds up in a truck, lightning strikes it, and monsters are unleashed upon an unsuspecting Japanese populace.

I felt sorry for the red monster.  It was kind of cute, but it gets melted by the green monster before Ultraman even shows up.



The ghost of a dead boy inhabits an archeopteryx.  But OF COURSE it does!  Happens all the time!

And in the end they just decide to let this one go.  Why?  Because Akiko randomly decides that it's wrong to interfere with archeopteryxes inhabited by ghosts.  She says it, everyone else buys that line of reasoning, and that's that.



Akiko almost breaks through the glass ceiling keeping her down at work, only for the annoying boy to show up in the jet on the way to her first solo mission.

Later on the jet crashes and she gets knocked out.  What's the annoying boy to do?  Naturally, being the more rational, capable male he is, he takes control of the situation, setting the stage for the Science Patrol's defeat of Poison Gas Monster Kemular.

At the end of this episode Akiko wakes up in the hospital, the guys have a laugh over their supposed male superiority, and she's effectively been put back in her place.  I get that it was 1966, but this episode annoyed me nonetheless.  It really is quite chauvinistic.

Come on, Science Patrol, do better!



One of the more memorable episodes, featuring a plot which is in some ways reminiscent of the Fantastic Four comics that Marvel produced around the same time.

In this one a race of underground people who lack eyes impersonate a French member of the Science Patrol in an attempt to use Ultraman for EVIL.  Their plans almost succeed but for one flaw: the fact that they perish in direct sunlight.  The monster in this episode is more of an afterthought, but this episode gets surprisingly creepy and intense for a show aimed at kids.



Could have been a tearjerker, but they rush through the story so fast there's no time to feel anything about it.

And how the hell does the Paris HQ guy know Jamila's backstory?  How did he or anyone else observe all of that stuff happening?  A spacecraft gets lost, goes all the way to another planet, and they just assume that the monster is a returned astronaut?

This episode is, I think, the first to establish that the Ultraman series takes place in the future.  The French HQ guy refers to the Cold War as happening in the (distant) past, so there you go.

Not that this has anything to do with anything, but Jamila kind of reminded me of Belial, the insane conjoined twin from the movie Basket Case.  Someone ought to reboot that movie...



Bonus points for Akiko in a wetsuit.  She's kinda hot at times.  Or maybe I've just been watching too much Ultraman.

In this one Abyssal Undersea Monster Gubila disrupts the operation of a new undersea science base, while some "President" guy freaks out and endangers everyone else on board.



One of the more random episodes.  Everybody gets worried about a comet that looks as if it's going to strike the Earth and render humankind obsolete, then they all kind of forget about it and start worrying about Red King, a monster that previously consumed a few hydrogen bombs before retreating into "the Japanese Alps."

Of all the episodes I've seen so far this one is the most "pro wrestling."  An abominable snowman thing and a dragon-y thing with shower curtain wings square off in a mountain plateau, and after Red King arrives it only gets more ridiculous.  At one point the monsters are tapping one another into the "ring," with the result that Red King emerges victorious - only to be dismembered by Ultraman soon after.



This and the following episode are two halves of the same story.

An ancient dinosaur called a "Gomorasaurus" is revived from his ancient slumber after the Science Patrol tries to airlift him back to Japan for the sake of an exhibition.

And then Ultraman actually loses!  Yep, in this one Ultraman gets his ass BEAT, and in the midst of that resounding defeat a monster-positive young boy winds up with Hayata's beta capsule.  What will happen next?  Stay tuned for next week's exciting conclusion!



The funny thing about this episode is how the Science Patrol makes it a point of honor to protect Osaka Castle from Gamora, only to stand by and watch as he rips it to shreds minutes later.

I would tend to agree with the kid and his dad in this episode.  Given the number of monsters I've seen in this show, it doesn't seem like there'd be much point in evacuating anywhere.  Maybe there's a kaiju under our apartment building, maybe there isn't.  Maybe there's one coming to our city, maybe there isn't.  Why worry?

Ultraman rips Gamora's horn off at the end of this episode.  Seems a little harsh to me.  Gamora was just chilling on his South Pacific island after all, it wasn't like he wanted to visit Japan.

27 Down, and 12 More to Go!!  Here Comes Our Ultraman!!

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2026年5月2日 星期六

"Interior Chinatown" by Charles Yu (2020)


"'For my friend Fong,' he says, and begins singing John Denver.  If you didn't know it already, now you do: old dudes from rural Taiwan are comfortable with their karaoke and when they do karaoke for some reason they love no one like they love John Denver."

Charles Yu is a Taiwanese-American author and lawyer who lives in California.  Besides Interior Chinatown he's written one other novel, How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, and two short story collections.  Interior Chinatown won the National Book Award and was adapted into a TV series.

Interior Chinatown illustrates the life and times of Willis Wu, an aspiring Asian American actor living in Los Angeles' Chinatown.  Typecast in a number of familiar Asian-centric movie and TV roles, Willis strives to become a "Kung Fu Guy," a function within the Hollywood industry that he's coveted since his earliest years.

The novel is written in the form of a screenplay, and in my opinion this format sometimes works, sometimes doesn't.  I wasn't always sure if what was happening was "real" or if it was some kind of metaphor, but perhaps that sort of ambiguity was the author's intention.

I think Interior Chinatown is a good book, though I do have certain objections to it.  In terms of narrative structure it's relatively solid, even if the character's trajectory is a bit predictable.  I enjoyed the author's observations on what it means to be a Taiwanese immigrant in America, though after a certain point one wonders if Willis Wu isn't just feeling incredibly sorry for himself.  Is there a point in wanting a country to love and respect you?  Maybe my saying so is a reflection of my age, but I think carrying around an expectation that strangers - and by extension an entire nation - will understand you the way in which you want to be understood is somewhat pointless.

Does America have a history of discrimination when it comes to Asian immigrants?  Certainly.  But I'm not sure what good it does anyone to regurgitate racist laws from the 1800s, or to expect that the outside world is going to see beyond the handier aspects of one's culture.  That kind of social justice thinking can only be carried so far, and if you're meditating upon it all the time you're probably only causing yourself a great deal of distress.  People are racist sometimes.  Stereotypes exist.  It doesn't make you (or them) any less American.  I suspect it might be better to approach others and their assumptions with forgiveness, rather than seeing in their (sometimes false) assumptions some sinister plot to keep you and yours down.

Besides, it's 2026.  Assuming that society has doomed you to life in Chinatown - or any other ghetto - is too much like playing the victim.  Injustice exists, but if you want something or if you want to be somewhere then it's up to you to go out and make that happen to the best of your ability.  No one's going to give it to you.  You have to go out and take it.

And yes, this "going out and taking it" is itself an Asian-American story, and moreover one we would all do well to remember.

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2026年4月26日 星期日

"Bullet Train" by Kotaro Isaka (2010)


"'True enough,' Suzuki nods, as if he had been expecting the Prince to say that.  'Like I said, that was my own personal feeling on the matter.  But that's what matters most.  I believe people should never kill other people, under any circumstances.  Dying is the saddest thing there is.  But that's not he kind of answer you're looking for.  So,' he continues, his voice suddenly kind, 'there is something I'd like to ask you.'"

Kotaro Isaka is a Japanese novelist widely published in Japan.  Many of his novels have been adapted for movies and TV, the most famous being this novel, which was recently adapted into a film starring Brad Pitt.

If you're arriving at this novel from the movie, you'll probably be expecting some kind of adrenaline soaked thrill ride.  If so you'll be disappointed.  Bullet Train is instead a very philosophical book hinged upon arguments between freewill and determinism, or between good luck and bad.  It hits a few of the same notes as the movie, but the sleek, Hollywood actioner that many know from Netflix is a far cry from what Kotaro Isaka laid out on the page.

If you've read manga like Hunter x Hunter, something like that might be a more apt comparison.  The author does write manga on occasion, and the parts of Bullet Train in which characters are forced to overcome a series of "traps" or dilemmas are much more similar to what characters encounter in the pages of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure or YuYu Hakusho.

The philosophical elements at play in Bullet Train have precedents in manga as well.  Consider the weird, philosophical discussions of the Golden Ratio in Steel Ball Run for example, or similarly high-flown plot devices in other series.  I'm not suggesting that Kotaro Isaka merely copied these things from manga titles, but there's a long history of such tropes in manga, and this should be taken into account when reading Bullet Train.

In the novel, as in the movie, several hitmen running conflicting errands are riding a high speed train through Japan.  One pair of hitmen have been charged with returning a Yakuza boss's son to his custody, and also with returning a bag full of money.  Another hitman has been charged with stealing this same bag of money, while a third hitman is trying to kill all of the other hitmen, and so on.  None of these hitman have a clear idea of the larger forces working against them, and all are unaware that a psychopath sits in their midst, a young man who takes great delight in complicating their plans.

As novels go it's not quite riveting, though I did enjoy many of the chapters near the end.  In my opinion this book's a bit too long for its own good, and the constant machinations regarding the case full of money grow tiresome.  I also don't think the "Kimura" character was as fully realized as he could have been, even if "the Prince" is a truly masterful creation.

Were I assigning stars I'd give this one 4 stars out of 5.  It's worth reading, even if it requires a bit of patience.

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2026年4月12日 星期日

Still More 00s Movies 2: 2002 - 2004

As with all the other "Still More..." entries I'll be listing these films from "best" to "worst."


1. Osama (2003)

A girl tries to pass for a boy in Taliban-controlled Kabul.  This movie isn't an easy watch, but it'll likely stay with you long after you've seen it.  It was the first movie filmed in Afghanistan since 1996, and it remains the highest-grossing Afghan film of all time.

A Silver Lining: The star of this film, Marina Golbahan, escaped Afghanistan after Osama's release and now lives in France.



Say what you like about Mel Gibson, he knows his way around a war movie.  This particular war movie follows the U.S. Army into scenic Vietnam, where predictable tragedies occur.

This movie's no Full Metal Jacket or anything, but I think it does a nice job of balancing the soldiers' lives against what their wives were going through at home.  The Viet Minh forces, for that matter, are also shown in a more sympathetic light.

The director, Randall Wallace, also wrote Braveheart and frequently collaborates with Gibson.  At the time of writing he's trying to crack a sequel to The Passion of the Christ, and if that sequel's as bonkers as I hope it will be I'm sure I'll love it.

Fun Fact: Clark Gregg is in this.  It was years before he appeared in Iron Man.


3. Brides (2004)

A group of mail order brides board a steamer for America between the first and second world wars.  It's a slow burn but worth the effort.


4. Suspect Zero (2004)

Aaron Eckhart, a disgraced FBI agent, investigates a serial killer who's not all he appears to be.  The screenplay was a hot property before this movie entered production, even if the end result was a resounding financial disappointment.  

I do think, however, that like The Juror, another film reviewed here recently, this one ought to be reevaluated.  For one thing Ben Kingsley's great in it, and for another thing it offers a novel concept which might have gone over some people's heads at the time.

It's not a perfect movie, but there's a lot to be said for it.  My feeling is that the director could have made it more surreal, psychedelic even, that that kind of imagery could have brought the whole thing together nicely in the film's conclusion.


5. Wicker Park (2004)

Josh Hartnett could have been a much bigger star than he was.  He kept going for noirish movies like Wicker Park and this probably hurt his career.  Sin City?  Oh hell yes, but much of the rest of his output in the early to mid 2000s wasn't very good.

In this remake of the French L'Appartement Hartnett stars as an indecisive young man stalking his ex-girlfriend through the streets of Chicago, with a freshly minted Rose Byrne as a woman entangled in their thwarted love affair.

Critics despised this movie, and yes, the coincidences which pile up are a bit hard to take, but I think it was well put together and deserves a second look.  The original is probably better, but this version also has its merits.


6. Hulk (2003)

It's one of the clunkiest comic book movies ever made, but keep in mind that back in 2003 there weren't a lot of other examples to draw from.  Sam Raimi's Spider-Man had come out, but up to that point the other big comic book movies consisted of 1989's Batman, its sequels and the Superman movies.

Ang Lee and his scriptwriters were cutting from whole cloth, and this production had a very troubled history to boot.  The dialogue is on par with the creature features of a much earlier decade, some of Hulk's backstory is butchered, and much of the plot relies upon Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross making inexplicable decisions.

There's also that "drama class" scene near the end, which is both ridiculous and completely out of left field.  "Oh yeah, never mind the fighting we were doing just minutes ago.  Let's give Bruce a moment alone with his father!"

With all of that said I still think that Hulk is an inventive movie with some redeeming features.  Eric Bana might not have done as much with the character as Ed Norton, but he's a solid lead and the cast is definitely stacked.  Jennifer Connelly and Sam Eliot also deserved awards for mouthing some of those lines with straight faces.

I can remember seeing this one in the theater.  My verdict back then?  I gave it a passing grade.  My verdict now?  It's still worth seeing.  It might be a failure in some respects, but it's an interesting failure nonetheless.

Fun Fact 1: Sam Eliot appeared in this the year after We Were Soldiers (above).  In both movies he plays an Army Ranger.

Fun Fact 2: A sequel incorporating Grey Hulk, the Abomination and the Leader was planned and quickly shelved when Universal failed to meet its 2004 deadline to start filming.


7. S.W.A.T. (2003)

I can remember seeing posters for S.W.A.T. in the theater after seeing Hulk (above).

In S.W.A.T. Samuel L. Jackson assembles a team of... non-Avengers in his battle against crime.  In this endeavor he's joined by fellow Marvel alumnus Jeremy Renner and Colin Farrell, whose career was in something of a death spiral at the time.

The first thing that struck me about this movie is how YOUNG Jackson, Renner and Farrell look in it.  Then again it was 23 years ago, so yeah, that tracks.

As cop movies go it's not bad.  Extremely formulaic, yes, but not bad.  If nothing else Michelle Rodriguez is very beautiful, and I enjoyed watching her scenes.  Her specific role in this movie?  Uh... don't ask me, I was distracted by the tank top.

Fun Fact: Developed from a 70s TV show, this movie went through its share of development hell before entering production.  At one point Arnold Schwarzenegger was attached to star, then Mark Wahlberg, then Paul Walker.  At one point Zack Snyder was also announced as director, though he left soon after to do Dawn of the Dead.


8. Noel (2004)

If you've ever wondered how good actors can elevate what would otherwise be a mediocre film this is one to watch.  Susan Sarandon leads a stacked cast in this somewhat unconventional Christmas movie, with Robin Williams turn as a former priest being the highlight of the film.

Fun Fact: Noel was was marketed using disposable DVD technology by Flexplay, a prominent rental franchise at the time.  This strategy was an abysmal failure.


9. Anger Management (2003)

I've started and stopped this film so many times.  I finally watched it straight through recently.  It's not bad.  Jack Nicholson's character is interesting, and Adam Sandler holds his own as the straight man.  It's not hilarious or anything, but as comedies go it's miles better than some other examples of the genre listed below.


10. Take Away (2003)

Australian movie in which the owners of two fish and chips shops team up to fight the local branch of a nationwide burger chain.  Take Away was never going to win any awards, but its funny moments are still, for the most part, funny.

Fun Fact: Rose Byrne is in this.  I had no idea she was Australian!


11. I Spy (2002)

Owen Wilson and Eddie Murphy star in this largely unfunny adaptation of the 60s TV show.  To give Murphy some (possibly undeserved) credit, he actually is funny in this movie, but in terms of plot and character development it goes absolutely nowhere fast.

Fun Fact 1: The 60s show featured Robert Culp and Bill Cosby.  Knowing what we now know about Cosby, I kinda hope they take another pass at the concept.

Fun Fact 2: Famke Janssen appeared in this between X-Men and X2: X-Men United.



12. D.E.B.S. (2004)

Low budget, girl-centric take on the spy genre which leans heavily on the physical attractiveness of its leads.  It'll probably remind you of nothing more than a slightly more mature version of the Spy Kids franchise.  Jordana Brewster had already appeared in The Fast and the Furious and Devon Aoki would later appear in Sin City.

Fun Fact 1: Director Angela Robinson later helmed Professor Marsten and the Wonder Women, a very overlooked movie.

Fun Fact(s) 2: Both Jordana Brewster and Devon Aoki have interesting backgrounds.  Brewster is half-Panamanian, and her Brazilian mother appeared on a 1978 cover of Sports Illustrated.  She's also a direct descendant of two passengers aboard The Mayflower.

Devon Aoki is the daughter of wrestler Rocky Aoki, owner of the Benihana restaurant chain and publisher of Genesis magazine.  She was a celebrated model before her appearances in a handful of films.  She retired from acting in 2009.


13. Doing Hard Time (2004)

Extremely derivative prison movie featuring some truly terrible acting.  The lead (i.e. the guy who has the most screen time) is good, but the "lead" (i.e. the guy who comes first in the credits) is so awful that his performance almost brings the entire film crashing down.

Fun Fact: That line about "Tony Montana" is a reference to the movie Scarface, in which actor Steven Bauer played Tony's best friend, "Manny Ribera."  He's only in Doing Hard Time for a handful of scenes.


14. Daddy Day Care (2003)

During the year in which Hulk rampaged through San Francisco the Flash was racing through Eddie Murphy's living room.  Daddy Day Care is a lot more cohesive than I Spy (above), but for all its cohesiveness it's even less funny.  It was, of course, aimed squarely at kids, but there are plenty of kid's movies that adults can also enjoy.


15. Big Trouble (2002)

Dave Barry - remember him?  In case you don't he was a noted humorist at the time, his syndicated column appearing in newspapers all over the States.  Come to think of it, newspapers - remember those?

Tim Allen, an actor I've always found annoying, stars in this big screen adaptation of one of Barry's novels.  It's all very Pulp Fiction-y, right down to a mysterious case that various characters lug around.  Heavy D's and Omar Epps' scenes are amusing, but the rest of this film is a real drag.

It was, like I Spy above, a massive bomb.  Tim Allen would live to fight another day, but I doubt many studios were banking on him after this point.

A Red Flag: Check the runtime: 1 hour and 17 minutes.  With the possible exception of lower-budget horror, any feature film shorter than 1 hour and 30 minutes made after the 70s is probably bad.


16. Uncle Nino (2003)

An estranged Italian uncle brings an American family back together.  A better screenplay would have had the rest of the family veer further away from the self-absorbed father's wishes, but as it is they all mope around and suffer his wrath in silence.

Not sure if this movie was extolling the virtues of family or repression.  What I do know is that after this movie and Laguna I'll be wary of Joe Mantegna vehicles in the future.


17. Until the Night (2004)

Norman Reedus of The Walking Dead appears in this for a bit, but it's a hard, pretentious watch that'll make you wish for zombies.  It reminded me a little of Sex, Lies and Videotape, though Steven Soderbergh's film is a far better effort.


18. Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)

Steve Martin, another actor I find consistently irritating.

This movie's a desert entirely devoid of laughter.  Hanging in the sky is Steve Martin's smug face, with not even the smallest chuckle in sight.  You're tired, you're bewildered, you're thirsty for laughter, but you somehow know that mirth is not to be had in a place such as this.

Is Steve Martin concerned about your predicament?  Not in the slightest!  He's already cashed the check.  He's already on to his next underwhelming movie.  Fare thee well, traveler.  Good luck... you'll need it.



Insipid teen romance involving a small town, peer pressure, angsty, angsty late 90s and early 00s Alternative music, and THE LORD.  It was adapted from a Nicholas Sparks novel, so if you've seen The Notebook you'll know where you stand with this one.

This movie, unlike some others discussed here, was a financial success.  It made over $47 million against a $11 million budget.


20. Garfield: The Movie (2004)

Bill Murray voices an unconvincing CGI cat in this adaptation of a comic strip that you might remember but probably don't think about much (if at all) in 2026.  And somehow this movie made a TON of money!  Go figure!

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2026年4月10日 星期五

"Shakespeare: The World as Stage" by Bill Bryson (2007)


"...and all other London playhouses, with the exception of the Globe, relied on other entertainments, particularly animal baiting, to fortify their earnings.  The pastime was not unique to England, but it was regarded as an English specialty.  Queen Elizabeth often had visitors from abroad entertained with bearbaiting at Whitehall.  In its classic form, a bear was put in a ring, sometimes tethered to a stake, and set upon by mastiffs, but bears were expensive investments, so other animals (such as bulls and horses) were commonly substituted.  One variation was to put a chimpanzee on the back of a horse and let the dogs go for both together.  The sight of a screeching ape clinging for dear life to a bucking horse while dogs leaped at it from below was considered about as rich an amusement as public life could offer."

Bill Bryson's One Summer and The Body were also reviewed here a while ago.  He's good for a quote or two, though I can't think of anything he's written that's really stuck in my memory.  He definitely has a way with words, but in the realm of ideas the books of his I've read seem to fall short.  Maybe he's said more meaningful things in other parts of his extensive bibliography?

Whatever the case, this slim volume introduces what we know and don't know about Shakespeare.  As it turns out we don't know much, but nevertheless what we don't know is enough to take up 196 pages.  This approach to Shakespeare's life is something of a cop-out, but it's consistently engaging and never overstays its welcome.

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2026年4月8日 星期三

Super Sentai in the 70s


The Super Sentai series is the last of the big 70s tokusatsu shows I'll be discussing here.  I'll work my way back through the Ultraman and Spider-Man episodes I haven't yet seen in the near future, but it seems unlikely that I'll revisit Super Sentai or Kamen Rider anytime soon.

To recap some of what has come before, tokusatsu was (is) a specific genre of effects-heavy show which aired on Japanese television.  This genre owes some of its stylistic leanings to the ancient Japanese art of Kabuki.  There are examples of the genre from the very beginnings of Japanese film to the present day.

In the popular imagination the first tokusatsu show was Godzilla in the 1950s.  The Godzilla series, influenced by the Western King Kong, featured giant monsters doing battle, a science-based team of "experts" tasked with protecting Japan from these monsters, and other motifs that will be familiar to anyone who's seen giant monster movies.

Godzilla was followed by Ultraman in the 60s, a show in which a giant alien does battle with a "monster of the week."  After a brief lull in the genre, Ultraman was followed by Kamen Rider in the 70s.  Kamen Rider introduced the transformations, cybernetic humans and other tropes often associated with tokusatsu today.

Super Sentai, released in 1975, also helped formulate the genre.  In Super Sentai we see a large cast of unlikely heroes, these opposing shadowy groups bent on world domination.  Super Sentai, created by the same man who created Kamen Rider and often shown alongside that earlier program, ups the ante on Kamen Rider, giving us an entire team of costumed superheroes instead of just one.

Super Sentai would, two decades later, give rise to the American show Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, a distinctly Western take on the genre which intercut footage of American actors and actresses with footage from the original Japanese TV shows.

Anyway, on to the show itself!


Gorenger Episodes 1 and 2

This is the original series, also known as Himitsu Sentai Gorenger.  The plot of both episodes is extremely minimal, involving four individuals (a kind of Mod Squad, if you will) recruited by a secretive military guy who gives them battle suits.

The funniest part of both episodes is the weird soccer thing they do at the end.  The pink one makes an explosive ball, they kick it back and forth, and then the red one jumps and kicks it into the bad guy, thus rocking him like a hurricane.  Neither of the two bad guys who conclude the first two episodes are especially smart, and the assorted henchmen who attack our heroes seem to do so entirely at random.


J.A.K.Q. Episodes 1 and 2

Check the company logo on the playing cards.  Yep, Nintendo!  In the 70s that's what they were better known for.

As an occasional player of poker it bothers me that the best hand we can muster with this team (assuming that their leader Joker is "wild") is a straight.  They're all wearing suits, after all - why not make them wear the same suit?  Royal flush to the ace - that would feel much better.

Besides, Texas hold 'em is a better game anyway.  Change Joker's name to "Ten," make them all clubs (seems appropriate, given how much they fight), and then you'd have a nice royal flush to the ace.  Five cards and five cyborgs suited up nicely.

The bad guys in this series are named Crime with a capital "C."  It gets a little confusing sometimes, but yes, that's both their name and what they do.  They spread crime so that they can call themselves Crime.  Seems like the name might make it hard to keep a lower profile, but whatever.

The more ridiculous parts of this show are their helmets, which they'd have quite a bit of difficulty seeing through.  There's also the "Covack" finishing move, which combines "atomic, electric, gravitational and magnetic forces" in one go.  Our four heroes don't have a giant robo - at least not in the first two episodes - but rather a flying plane which looks decidedly uncool and less than aerodynamic.

All of the above said, the girl in the hot pants is kinda hot, even if she can't, in my humble opinion, hold a candle to Spider-Man's "Amazoness."  I think what really does it for me with Amazoness is the scowling.


Battle Fever J Episodes 1 and 2

This is the Super Sentai series which would close out the 70s.  It ran in 1979.

Weirdly enough, like Spider-Man this show was also a co-production between Toei and Marvel.  It was supposed to feature Captain America (!), but that idea fell apart somewhere along the way.

Instead of Captain America we get Miss America, an American-born espionage agent who does battle in a revealing leotard.  At some point in the tokusatsu shows producers got wise to the fact that having a sexier member of the team was more attractive to young boys, and given the popularity of shows like Sailor Moon this might have been a selling point for young Japanese girls as well.

Battle Fever J pits our cybernetic heroes against Egos, an organization that wants to get rid of "bad technology" in favor of their own "good technology" which predates modern civilization.  If you ask me the whole thing sounds a lot like a metaphor for Scientology, but even if it's there such a metaphor would have been lost on a Japanese-speaking audience - at least in the late 70s.

The bonkers part of Battle Fever J is that each of the cyborgs have dance moves representing their geographical region.  Oh, and they also (somehow) jump into the sky and make letters with their bodies before launching their final attack.

Gotta love how the team puts together seemingly random facts to uncover a sinister plot in the second episode.  Some guy in a car accident?  A girl's suicide?  A man who gets a promotion at work?  Way to connect the dots, Battle Fever!

This team, by the way, does get its own giant robo.  It doesn't get used in the first two episodes, but there are scenes of it under construction.

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NOTE: It's not that I wouldn't enjoy more Super Sentai and Kamen Rider.  It's just that Toei keeps a tight grip on those shows, and what I've discussed here was all that I could find on YouTube.
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