Directed by Kazuho Mitsuta. Written by Tatsuo Miyata. Airdate Sep. 25, 1966.
The first time I watched Ultraman all the way through, “The Rascal From Outer Space” rewired my brain. The episode was so bonkers, so bizarre, so absurdly comic, I couldn’t believe what I was watching. Since I hadn’t seen any other Ultra shows — they were unavailable in North America at the time — I didn’t know this comic nuttiness was a series tradition. I hadn’t yet watched Ultra Q episodes like “Grow Up! Little Turtle” and “Kanegon’s Cocoon,” nor was I aware of the lunatic world of Ultraman Taro. Still, I was certain I was discovering a key part of the franchise, something essential about it, with “The Rascal From Outer Space.”
Here was this … thing. A joke almost from start to finish. There’s a montage of a petty jerk playing pranks on hotel employees. Children use a magical space stone to summon a cake and a piano. The appearance of the monster doesn’t make the episode more serious; it explodes it into epic ridiculousness. The fight between Ultraman and “Brainwave Monster Gango” is less a kaiju-smackdown and more like watching an exasperated day care worker wrestling an obnoxious toddler.
It’s strange, it’s stupid, it’s all intentional. It’s also kind of amazing.
I’m serious, this is one of my favorite episodes of Ultraman. It did rewire my brain: it shaped my perception of the franchise because it showed the variety of story types the creative team could try. I was worried the monster-of-the-week formula might get dull, but “The Rascal From Outer Space” taught me that I’d never know what I was going to get from episode to episode. I also learned that Tsuburaya Pro could produce an outright comedy and actually make it funny.
The premise: A strange stone falls from the sky that can turn into anything a person nearby wishes it to be. Onida, a resentful man with a love of being a petty dick to others, steals the telepathic wish-stone from SSSP headquarters. Immediately, he turns the stone into a human-sized monster, Gango, so he can realize his lifelong dream of aggravating random service workers.
Onida then wishes for Gango to change into a giant monster, forgetting he’s on the upper floor of a hotel. Giant Gango appears, obliterating part of the hotel and knocking Onida unconscious so he’s unable to wish the monster out of existence. Gango, infused with the “evil heart” of Onida, unleashes its own petty jerkishness on the city as it throws a tantrum. The Science Patrol must get Onida to wake up while Ultraman unleashes the power of tickling (tickling!) on the obnoxious kaiju.
The big fight between Ultraman and Gango is — hoo boy! Kaiju slapstick. Gango sits on Ultraman and bounces up and down. It does pratfalls onto its butt. It cowers and pouts and gloats while Ultraman acts like this is just the most annoying thing he’s ever had to do. It’s hilarious.
The rest of the episode is funny as well. The prologue with Hoshino and the other children who first find the stone is fun (“Is that a UFO?” “Yeah, it usually is.”) and includes some neat stop-motion animation. Onida’s ludicrous rampage of pestering the hotel staff, where he chortles like a Batman ‘66 villain against a stark yellow background, is a hoot. There’s a bizarre scene of a reporter getting his ultimate wish via the stone: a bride. Not a specific woman. Just a bride.
Onida is played by Ren Yamamoto, who had a small role in Ultra Q’s first episode and later played the human form of Alien Icarus in Ultraseven’s “The Suspicious Neighbor.” Considering how good he is here, I’m surprised he didn’t get more juicy villain roles. Onida’s whole “deal” is obscure. He has an injured leg and walks with a crutch, which may hint at why he’s so cynically angry, but that’s all we have to go on. Yamamoto does the job of making it clear the character is simply a bastard with a mean sense of humor, and that translates perfectly to the monster he creates with the wishing stone.
Gango is a redesign of the Bemular costume with the addition of rotating double-helix-shaped ears and a cubist painting on its chest. Gango looks like something a kid would draw, and that makes its childish behavior even more amusing. Gango is one of the great kaiju comedians of Ultraman, and credit to stunt performer Teruo Aragaki for doing terrific clowning in the costume. Aragaki is the same performer who made Red King so detestable in “The Monster Anarchy Zone.” He’d also play Gamera three times.
Gango, sadly, hasn’t done much in the later Ultra series, picking up only a few cameo appearances. Tsuburaya Pro has made it a major part of the live action stage shows and it regularly pops up in marketing. If I were writing an Ultra episode, I’d bring back Gango immediately.
This episode may not click for others the way it does for me. I have a special love for Ultra episodes with strange and absurdist comedy, and “The Rascal From Outer Space” is where that affection started. Maybe you’ll find it irredeemably childish and dumb. That’s fine. I love it.
Rating: Classic
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