Directed by Toshitsugu Suzuki. Written by Keisuke Fujikawa. Airdate Jan. 21, 1968.
- An alien race mistakenly interprets an exploratory probe from Earth as a hostile attack and plans to launch a counterstrike.
- A lost space vessel returns to Earth with a mysterious surprise aboard.
We’ve seen these story concepts in the Ultra shows before — several times — but “The Eye That Shines in the Darkness” not only uses both, it adds something new to the mix. Not new for the broader franchise, but for Ultraseven specifically: a child character as the lead.
Child characters have played important roles in the Ultra Series since its inception. The first episode of Ultra Q has a boy named Jiro help solve the problem of taking down the monster of the week. In Ultraman, a twelve-year-old is promoted to a full member of the Science Patrol. Gangs of children wandering through the urban prairies of Tokyo are almost a cliché of the Showa Era. Ultraman Taro seems entirely run by kids and their sensibilities.
Ultraseven is an exception. It was conceived with a more adult tone, and so far when children have appeared, they were either mindless pawns of the alien villain (“Operation Android Zero”) or a small role used to get the story underway (“The Suspicious Neighbor”). However, the television network wanted Tsuburaya Pro to add a child character into the mix of Ultraseven to help with the ratings. Even though this story choice came from the network, it’s a welcome surprise to see a child at the center of an episode that still adheres to the show’s darker science-fiction atmosphere. “The Eye That Shines in the Darkness” doesn’t fully blossom because of a tepid and confused conclusion, but it’s an admirable experiment in what the show could be.
The child hero is Hiroshi (Chiharu Inayoshi, who played a major part in Ultraman’s classic two-parter, “The Monster Highness”), a boy who discovers a strange rock that comes from the Sakura 9 rocket. The uncrewed Sakura 9 had mysteriously vanished while investigating Planet Anno. The rock contains the disembodied lifeform of the Alien Anno, who promises to help Hiroshi get revenge on the bullies who torment him if the boy will help Anno find a new rock body. Anno believes the recent probe was an attack on its world, and it wants to take revenge on the Earth. This is identical to Alien Pedan’s motivation from the previous episode, but Anno isn’t as hostile. It genuinely thinks Earth means its planet harm and wants to defend itself.
Most of the action takes place at night as the trio of Dan, Anne, and Amagi investigate the rural landing site of the Sakura 9 and run into the effects of Alien Anno’s power. These scenes are genuinely eerie thanks to the effect of Anno’s eye materializing out of the surface of rocks and trees. The first time Anno’s eye opens up on a rock face that Dan has just passed is truly startling, and soon the alien creature builds up a good deal of menace that also raises the stakes in its interactions with young Hiroshi.
It’s good to see this particular group of Ultra Guard members working together. Amagi still doesn’t get much to do and remains the least developed UG member, but at least they let him out of headquarters. The more action-oriented characters Soga and Furuhasi might have made superficially more sense for this part, but Amagi ends up working better with the lower-key tone.
The episode begins to fizzle when it gets to the standard Ultraseven vs. Monster finale. Anno is able to transfer its consciousness into a pile of boulders and transforms into one of the least interesting-looking kaiju in the show, something that resembles a half-finished child’s clay sculpture of a stegosaurus. The fight between giant-Anno and Seven is shot against murky nighttime sets that make it occasionally hard to see what’s happening. The fight isn’t necessary anyway because Seven eventually uses diplomacy with Anno to convince the alien that Earth’s exploration efforts are not meant as attacks. Seven’s turn to peaceful negotiation aligns with the episode’s anti-bullying messaging … except Seven already beat up Anno. A moral about learning to deal with bullies is a bit harder to accept when Seven decided to go straight to physical violence rather than ask Anno a few basic questions.
“The Eye That Shines in the Darkness” is a good way to follow up the action epic of “The Ultra Guard Goes West,” at least in style and tone. It stands out for today thanks to the literally eye-popping horror effects and the atmosphere of dark mystery. Unfortunately, these subdued episodes were exactly why Ultraseven was losing younger viewers. Including a child lead didn’t seem to help any.
Rating: Good
Previous: The Ultra Guard Goes West
Next: Underground Go! Go! Go!
The Ultra Project 