Directed by Koji Kajita. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate Jan. 23, 1966.
“Mammoth Flower” was the first episode of Ultra Q to go before cameras. Although it wasn’t designed specifically as an introductory episode, it makes an extra effort at world-building. Koji Ishizaka’s narration sounds like the original pitch for the show when it was still known as Unbalance: “Currently, a part of Mother Nature that surrounds us is starting to make a strange move. That’s right, this is a terrifying world where everything is unbalanced.” The exit narration mentions “the Unbalance Zone” with an invitation to viewers to tune in next week.
Jun, Ippei, and Yuriko have prominent roles in the story to establish them as the series leads. This is the first time we hear that Jun writes science-fiction stories, and there’s a playful bickering between him and Yuriko that hints at a simmering romance that never really goes anywhere. Jun makes a nasty swipe at Yuriko’s age: “Maybe you should be chasing boys rather than an earthquake.” Yuriko is already accustomed to snapping back at him, something that will carry over to Ultraman with the relationship between Fuji (also played by Hiroko Sakurai) and Ide.
The character who receives the most attention is Professor Ichinotani, who gets a more proper introduction here than in “The Gift From Space.” He has his own laboratory and works in connection with a vaguely defined Defense Agency. The agency puts immense trust in him when dealing with bizarre menaces like a gigantic prehistoric flower with blood-sucking tendrils that explodes up through the center of a building in Tokyo.
The professor is the central figure of the episode, and his position regarding how to deal with the giant killer flower is not what viewers expect from the scientist character in a monster movie. When Ichinotani meets with the Defense Agency, he’s firmly on the side of destroying the monster flower right away rather than attempting to study it. This puts him in conflict with Professor Genda (Minoru Takada), who thinks Ichinotani’s destructive position is a betrayal of science. To which Ichinotani responds: “Optimism is dangerous.”
This is the same line a Defense Agency member uses in “The Gift From Space,” which indicates an underlying pessimistic theme from writer Tetsuo Kinjo. The world of Ultra Q — the “Unbalance Zone” — is hostile to humans. Space Race optimism has no place when a 300-foot giant plant is threatening lives. Professor Genda comes around to agreeing with Ichinotani and apologizes for his reluctance to wipe out the giant plant.
This pessimism from Tetsuo Kinjo wouldn’t become dominant in the Ultra series (Eiji Tsuburaya had a more hopeful approach), but it continues to crop up throughout the franchise with episodes that slant toward bitterness and even misanthropy. For all the silly weirdness that can happen in Ultra Q, it has some of the darkest shadings of any of the shows.
Even with all this set-up material and the interesting conflict for Ichinotani, I understand why TBS didn’t pick “Mammoth Flower” as Ultra Q’s premiere episode. It has effective horror moments, such as an atmospheric opening on an empty Tokyo street, and excellent effects work that includes bits of stop-motion animation — but it also has a low-tension finale with the problem solved rapidly and without fanfare. A giant flower, even with blood-sucking vines and poison pollen, isn’t a great debut monster, not when compared to pseudo-Godzilla, pseudo-King Kong, and a Martian slug. I personally have never liked plant-based monsters (see: Greenmons), especially if they’re sessile like this one.
Although not used in the episode, the name of the monster flower is Juran. Surprisingly, considering that it’s an uninteresting kaiju, Juran made a later appearance in the Ultra Series, taking on a major role in an early episode of Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle.
Rating: Average
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