Month: June 2025

Toku Theater: Rodan (1956)

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Ishiro Honda. Written by Takeshi Kimura and Takeo Murata. Starring Kenji Sahara, Yumi Shirakawa, Akihiko Hirata.

Rodan is where Toho Studios’ science-fiction boom truly takes flight. The original 1954 Godzilla was an enormous success, but the rushed and less imaginative sequel, Godzilla Raids Again (1955), made money without leaving much of an impression on audiences or the Japanese film industry. Godzilla wouldn’t return to movie screens for seven years.

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Ultraman Ep. 23: My Home Is Earth

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Akio Jissoji. Written by Mamoru Sasaki. Airdate Dec. 18, 1966.

I’ve mentioned this episode numerous times, and for good reason: “My Home Is Earth” is the Ultraman episode that’s accumulated the most praise and had the biggest influence on future shows. It earns its place among the Olympians of Ultra. This is a superlative work of tragic science fiction in the guise of a giant monster story. It channels the classic British film The Quatermass Xperiment, shows director Akio Jissoji putting his signature style to great dramatic use, and gives the best character his defining episode. 

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 14: The Unleashed Target

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Hirochika Muraishi. Written by Kazuyoshi Nakazaki and Hirochika Muraishi. Airdate Dec. 7, 1996.

One fine day in Tokyo, the Ultraman Tiga creative team was lounging around, bandying about ideas for a show that didn’t have a strong overall plan from the beginning. Writer Kazuyoshi Nakazaki said, “Hey, you know what’s a great movie? The Predator.” Writer-director Hirochika Muraishi, answered, “Yeah, it’s a bit like that short story ‘The Most Dangerous Game.’ ” And right there and then the two sat down at a computer and hashed out the script for “The Unleashed Target.”

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Ultra Q Ep. 25: The Devil Child

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Koji Kajita. Written by Kyoko Kitazawa and Ken Kumagai. Airdate June 19, 1966.

The massive success of Ring (1998) ignited the J-Horror boom of the late 1990s and 2000s, but the unique style of Japanese horror has a long history. Several key supernatural horror films came out in the 1960s: Onibaba (1964), Kwaidan (1965), and Kuroneko (1968). “The Devil Child” is Ultra Q’s contribution to Japanese ghost lore of this era. It combines the concept of the dangerous ghost child with science-fiction elements for that peculiar Ultra Q mix. It’s one of the show’s eeriest and subtlest achievements.

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Ultraman Ep. 22: Overthrow the Surface

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Akio Jissoji. Written by Mamoru Sasaki. Airdate Dec. 11, 1966.

Akio Jissoji’s third Ultraman episode is when his characteristic style comes together … and then goes on a rampage. Heavily influenced by his viewing of Jean-Luc Godard’s Alphaville (1965), Jissoji cuts loose with his visuals: jittery hand-held camera shots, rapid cutting, close-ups on faces and mouths, lights dimmed to almost nothing, bizarre angles, reflective surfaces, sepia photography, freeze frames. It would feel indulgent — and several of his later Ultra outings are definitely that — if it didn’t work so well for the tone of paranoia and panic he brings to this twist on the alien invasion story. 

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Ultraseven Ep. 19: Project Blue

~ Ryan Harvey

Written and Directed by Samaji Nonagase. Airdate Feb. 11, 1968.

Professor Miyabe (Akiji Nomura) has invented a magnetic defense barrier, Project Blue, that will shield both Earth and the Moon from the barrage of alien invasions happening on a weekly basis. (At this point, the Ultra Guard is so familiar with these invasions that they know the preferred routes aliens take when launching attacks.) But Alien Bado, self-proclaimed “Emperor of the Universe,” is not going to have some Terrestrial Defense Barrier hinder their plot to explode Earth and eradicate the potentially deadly human race. The aliens covertly park their spaceship under Professor Miyabe’s home and kidnap him, threatening to murder his wife Grace (Linda Mabrey) if he doesn’t surrender the plans for Project Blue.

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Ultra Q Ep. 24: The Statue of Goga

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Samaji Nonagase. Written by Shozo Uehara. Airdate June 12, 1966.

The James Bond craze has hit Japan. Time for an Ultra episode to go full espionage. The accouterments of a ‘60s spy film are all over this half hour: A wealthy villain with a hidden underground base filled with stolen artwork. Secret agents with numbered codenames who wear shades indoors. Lethal henchmen in slick suits. A swanky female spy loaded with gizmos. Wrist communication devices. Exploding cars. And, of course, a giant snail with a drill attachment. Well, this is Ultra Q, after all. 

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Ultraman Tiga Ep. 13: Human Collection

~ Ryan Harvey

Directed by Hirochika Muraishi. Written by Minoru Kawasaki and Hirochika Muraishi. Airdate Nov. 30, 1996.

Young Shinichi is walking home alone one night — not an activity I recommend for third graders — when he sees a strange “crow man” using a ray gun to shrink and capture a pedestrian on the street. Thankfully, Shinichi is Shinjoh’s cousin, so he can call GUTS headquarters directly to inform them of the new threat. Because of a recent spate of vanishings in the area, Shinjoh and Daigo go to check out the kid’s story. They encounter the mystery crow-headed man, who uses his shrinking ray to nab Shinichi and then escape.

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