Directed by Kazuho Mitsuta. Written by Shozo Uehara. Airdate April 14, 1968.
We have something special for you today, Ultra fans! My distinguished regular readers and guests, children of all ages, please direct your attention to the starting line of Day One of a 700 kilometer race. (That’s 435 miles for all my US-based readers.) I present to you … Dino Tank!
Wait, wait … Let’s stop revving our motors for a second and ease back on the throttles. We need to take the time to examine the rest of the race before we get to the military-dinosaur spectacle so amazing that it caused long-time Ultra show designer Tohl Narita to quit Ultraseven.
This is the car race episode, a type of episode that became common almost to the point of cliché in action television shows of the 1970s and ‘80s. Usually, the series leads had to enter an automotive race to ferret out a criminal or spy, or make themselves into sabotage targets. Racing was also becoming popular in Japan in the late ’60s and making it to the airwaves: this was when Speed Racer was first on the air.
Here, the Ultra Guard has to transport Spyner, a powerful type of nitroglycerine, to a testing ground while avoiding the aliens targeting it for destruction. Dan, who’s recently become a fan of endurance racing, suggests he and Amagi enter the long-distance Isuzu Rally so they can smuggle the nitro in the car. Which means this is also Ultraseven’s version of The Wages of Fear. You’d never get me in an off-road racing vehicle carrying nitroglycerine, no matter what kind of shock absorber you place it in.
Regardless, a terrific premise: a spy-thriller where Dan and Amagi try to win a race and avoid attempts by Alien Kill to blow them up or gun them down. (Looks like Dan’s plan to keep the transport method a secret from the alien saboteurs didn’t go so well.) This is the type of scenario that director Kazuho Mitsuta can have a grand ol’ time with.
And does he ever! This is an action-packed episode that doesn’t need much overt science fiction to keep its engines roaring. Alien Kill remain in their human disguises and effectively function as agents of an enemy nation, except they have nuttier spy-tech and vanish in an orange blaze when they bite it. The Ultra Guard pulls out their own cool spy-fi gadgets, such as a hovering race car equipped with lasers and Soga’s mandolin that doubles as a machine gun.
This is the big episode for Amagi, the Ultra Guard’s most hesitant member. Previous episodes have shown Amagi in a poor light as a borderline coward, and now the show confronts this head on. When Dan hatches the idea of entering the rally to transport Spyner, Captain Kiriyama selects Amagi as his co-driver, even though picking Furuhashi or Soga makes much more sense. Amagi has to face a reasonable fear of getting blown up and a severe case of PTSD that he explains to Dan: when he was in elementary school, a nearby fireworks factory exploded, ripping apart houses and presumably killing many.
Anyone who knows Captain Kiriyama’s tactics will understand that he’s using the situation to grind Amagi’s fears from him. This works as effective drama for a slam-bang action episode. The scene of Amagi trying to defuse a time bomb is both great suspense and character work. On the downside, there’s a late twist in the story that makes Kiriyama look callous. A commander should never put a high-level mission and his team at risk just to teach a lesson to one member. Also, PTSD treatment doesn’t work that way. I think it’s fine to let Amagi do what he’s best at: intelligence.
In a lighter vein, we get a small but important character moment: Dan on a date with Anne at a movie theater, eating big rice crackers. Although these two have worked together before, this is the first time romance enters the air.
Now let’s get to … Dino Tank! In the finale, the spy-fi turns into straightforward sci-fi when Alien Kill decides to ditch subtlety and unleash … Dino Tank!
Dino Tank is one of the most wonderfully daft creatures in the Ultra series. It has a cult following. Don’t say anything bad about Dino Tank or you’ll get oblivioned. For the big action finale, Ultraseven facing a dinosaur riding a tank (built from a tank prop donated by Toho) is the kind of spectacle that delights every stage of my cognitive development and activates my, uhm, lizard brain. It’s a perfect battle, with lasers and nitro canisters and rescues. I would not change a thing about it.
Dino Tank came at a cost, however. It made designer Tohl Narita finally throw up his hands and leave Tsuburaya Productions after having worked with them from the early development of Ultra Q. Narita had been growing increasingly dissatisfied with production design choices in Ultraseven starting with Iron Rocks. Dino Tank was one kaiju-step too far.
I’m sorry Narita-san felt that way, but … I still love Dino Tank. A dinosaur riding a tank, or maybe attached to it, is what the world needs now and forever.
Rating: Great
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