Directed by Samaji Nonagase. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo. Airdate Oct. 8, 1967.
Eiji Tsuburaya must have had a dictum about his shows: within the first batch of episodes, there must be a plant monster. Ultra Q has the giant flower Juran, Ultraman has a green lettuce sack called Greenmons, and now Ultraseven’s second episode brings us Alien Waiell, a walking stack of spiky mixed greens. It doesn’t look great, but it’s better than Greenmons. I’ll say it again: I don’t have much interest in vegetation monsters.
After a first episode filled with Ultra Guard action and vehicles in combat, “The Green Terror” aims for subdued horror about aliens masquerading as humans in an attempt to assimilate the planet. The central figure in the invasion is Ishiguro (Asao Matsumoto), an Ultra Guard agent recently returned from Space Station V3. Something isn’t right, however, and it’s connected to a bizarre metallic boulder that landed in front of Ishiguro’s house. Using his Ultra powers, Dan identifies the mystery stone as an extraterrestrial substance produced by Alien Waiell. Abruptly, people start changing into horrific plant monsters, and unraveling the crisis depends on discovering what’s wrong with Ishiguro and why an alien rock parked itself on his driveway.
The story feels like a riff on the British film The Quatermass Xperiment (1955), an acknowledged influence on Eiji Tsuburaya and Tetsuo Kinjo. An astronaut returns to Earth, but he’s not the same — grotesque plant-like mutations start to alter him. The episode succeeds the most during its grotesque transformation scenes, which achieve an appropriately eerie level of horror similar to The Quatermass Xperiment. The footage is often dark and shadowy, and there’s not an ounce of comedy to it as you might find in Ultraman or even Ultra Q.
The episode is less successful at conveying the global threat of Alien Waiell. There are a few short scenes explaining that Alien Waiell is turning people into plant beasts and will conquer the human race in a matter of months. Yet it doesn’t seem that urgent: certainly no global threat, and it gets waved away quickly at the conclusion.
“The Green Terror” features the first battle between Ultraseven and a giant monster. Seven appeared in giant form briefly in “The Invisible Challenger”; now he gets a full set-piece to take on the super-sized version of Alien Waiell. As far as kaiju battles go, it’s adequate. We do get to see Ultraseven’s Eye Slugger do something impressive. This climax, however, doesn’t gel with the moody mystery and body horror of the rest of the episode. The TsuPro team would get better at integrating these various elements to create the unique feel of Ultraseven. At this stage, they’re still experimenting.
Dan Moroboshi is already showing his more active protagonist role. He takes greater initiative than Shin Hayata usually does in Ultraman, making him stand out as a heroic figure even when not in his superhero guise. Anne Yuri also steps up and plunges right into the action. Although I prefer Akiko Fuji in Ultraman as a female lead, that has more to do with the performance of Hiroko Sakurai than what Fuji actually gets to do. Anne is a standout defense team member who will gladly blast away with a laser gun whether anyone is prepared for it or not. She’s a badass.
Rating: Mediocre
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