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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