Directed by Toshihiro Iijima. Written by Tetsuo Kinjo and Toshihiro Iijima. Airdate May 8, 1966.
It’s redundant to write, “This is a weird episode of Ultra Q,” because weirdness is the show’s default setting. But this is a weird episode of Ultra Q. Not in the humorous fashion of “Kanegon’s Cocoon” or the crazy pinball machine of “The Underground Super Express Goes West.” This is the weird of dark science fiction where not much ends up making sense; intentional SF surrealism appears to be the point. I can’t say I understand much of what occurs in “Challenge From the Year 2020,” but I do like a lot of what I see. Your mileage may vary, either up or down.
An alien invasion story, vanishing humans, a possible time-traveling novel, a mentally deranged scientist, a giant monster, a haunted amusement park. Plus, if you act now: the meatiest indication yet of a romance between Yuriko and Jun. This episode is a lot.
In situations like this, I wish I had access to an Ultra series resource similar to These Are the Voyages, Marc Cushman’s exhaustive three-volume look at the making of the original Star Trek series. Cushman goes into extensive detail on the development of each Trek script, from original ideas and pitches through to the last rewrites … and I want to know how this script developed. Tetsuo Kinjo is credited as co-writer with director Toshihiro Iijima (using his “Kitao Senzoku” pseudonym). Kinjo’s fingerprints are definitely on most of the SF aspects, such as a novel that seems to have predicted the future, but I suspect Iijima did extensive rewrites, leading to the messy results. But this is merely my speculation.
The kernel of the idea in the opening appears basic enough for a SF-heavy episode: Japanese Self-Defense jets collide with an invisible barrier while investigating a UFO. Afterwards, random people start to vanish when they come into contact with a goo-like substance. These disappearing effects are among the episode’s most impressive moments, such as a man who vanishes while drinking milk, leaving the glass of pouring milk temporarily suspended in mid-air before it falls. Amazing.
The story starts to swerve as it introduces the mysterious Dr. Kanda, author of the novel Challenge From the Year 2020 that seems to be predicting the current phenomenon. Bizarrely, it’s Ippei who knows the most about this. Jun vanishes while working with Major Amano (Akiji Kobayashi, the future Cap. Muramatsu in Ultraman) to figure out what happened to the jets, and Yuriko thinks she’s the next target of the vanishing-goo. This is when Alien Kemur appears, who (according to Kanda’s novel) has traveled from the future to kidnap humans as part of a plot to rejuvenate himself.
This is too much material to pack into a half-hour story, and it feels like certain parts went missing during the rewrites. Dr. Kanda, who somehow wrote this predictive book, never appears at all; we learn he’s already vanished. Maybe Kemur got him? Dr. Kanda’s absence is a major sticking point — having him appear might have given the confused story the center it needs.
In place of Dr. Kanda is semi-comic character Detective Udagawa (Hiroshi Yanagiya), who’s supposedly assigned to protect Yuriko, but who has also been tracking Kemur’s activities. Kemur appears in an abandoned amusement park where some of the vanished people have been taken — I don’t know why — and then Kemur grows large and Ippei and Major Amano try to activate X-channel rays from Tokyo Tower to stop him…
Honestly, I don’t know why I’m trying to boil down this plot. What’s interesting here is the imagery and ideas, not how they fit together. The early vanishing scenes are shot with horror movie suspense, and the amusement park finale is masterfully handled, appropriately peculiar and frightening, even as you struggle to make sense of what’s supposed to be happening. Kemur enlarging to giant size seems an afterthought as a way to work a kaiju into the story, but the VFX of Kemur picking up a Ferris wheel are fantastic. Kemur is a frightening alien entity who can outrun police cars and has a deep, sinister laugh. The guy definitely makes an impression, although Kemur’s subsequent Ultra show appearances play for comedy, such as his role in Ultraman Ginga.
Yuriko’s affection for Jun is undeniable at this point. This episode was shot late in the production schedule, and the romantic possibility between the two feels like it’s gone past mere possibility. Or at least it does from Yuriko’s side. When she thinks she sees Jun alive in the dreamlike amusement park, she lights up. It’s a good human touch in a bizarre SF-heavy episode, and actress Hiroko Sakurai sells Yuriko’s youthful infatuation. Kenji Sahara is a touch flat as Jun, however, and I still think he’s a bit old for Yuriko.
Some fans of Ultra Q love this episode. I can’t go quite that far, as there’s not enough for me to grasp onto at the end. There are too many unanswered questions, too much awkwardly packed into a tight space. It’s still one of the defining episodes of the show for its visual style and pure ambition. Who else was daring to make TV like this?
Review: Good
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